


Fractured Family

by Cojiko



Category: Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z
Genre: Abandonment, Art, Child Abandonment, Childhood Memories, Come one and all, Dead Parent, Estrangement, Flashbacks, Gen, I've given up on them, Illustrations, It's a work-in-progress getting them up, Only one shiny hit!, Origin Story, Orphanage, POV Third Person, Pictures, Swearing, We got nice dead parents, and we got deadbeat living ones, bad parent, cursing, from the internet, kind of, singular, this bitch LOOOOONG
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-21
Updated: 2019-08-09
Packaged: 2020-07-09 20:24:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 20,525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19893826
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cojiko/pseuds/Cojiko
Summary: Memories can be such fickle things. They should normally fade over time, becoming more and more twisted the more you try to remember them, eventually turning into a completely different scenario than what had actually happened.However, some memories, no matter how mundane or important, are just unable to be changed by the passage of time. Here are a few such memories involving our favorite martial artist and his family.





	1. Chapter 1: Reassurance

**Author's Note:**

> I started this story as side material for my previous work, A Forfeited Path. I implied that there were possibly other things in Krillin's life that, in their own ways, contributed partly to the bigger problem he had to deal with back there. This is the result of wanting to expand upon that, as well as a little more backstory for this non-canon universe I've just created. 
> 
> Hope you all enjoy my little thought child c:

East City, one of the major capitals of planet Earth and just one of many metropolises that inhabit this world. What isn't well known about the area is that it has a decent standing in the agriculture industry. Surrounding this grand metropolis were miles upon miles of vast green plains, of which had many small farms dotting its rolling landscape. These farmsteads were often passed down from generation to generation and the families which inhabited these properties made enough money to live comfortably.

Besides the occasional wolves or city thugs, life in this area was generally peaceful, quiet, and an alright place to start a new family or retire. The people who live here grow up learning to shoot and fight to defend their homes, so it wasn't often for the average punk to get away with their tomfoolery.

Despite this, however, there seemed to be one farmstead that was rowdier than the other properties surrounding it. It was a pretty meager place since it didn't have many crops to profit from. Living there was a young married couple and their little boy. The boy's grandfather had passed away shortly before he'd been born, leaving his parents to take over the tiny estate for the next few years. They didn't make much of a profit and arguments were always plentiful, but the little family still managed to look out for each other in spite of the daily hardships they endured. The parents always made sure to let their son know that he was always cherished and he could always rely on them.

Tonight seemed to be another typical moment for the adults of the family. The thin walls of their house did little to keep their anger and frustration from spilling outside, allowing anyone within a 50-mile radius to hear their argument easily. Normally, the neighboring households would ignore them as best they could, thinking that they were arguing over what groceries to buy that month. But it was a little more personal to the young couple than just saving money...

"You can't be serious about this, Kanu! He's too young for something like that!"

"Alma, if our boy's gonna take over this place one day, then he's gonna need to learn how to defend himself. This is something that everyone else here had done for years!"

As you can see, the names of these cockatoos in human form are Kanu and Alma, the sole proprietors and only farmers of the meager estate they lived on. They were about to get ready for bed when Kanu opened his mouth and suggested getting their child martial arts training, not an uncommon thing for people to do in their area. The two 'lovebirds' were currently having a semi-shout match in the kitchen at midnight, trying their best to keep quiet.

"My pa took me to that temple when I was a kid and the instructors there are some of the best we can get! They're good with children, so I can't see him having any problems over there!" Kanu explained.

It was traditional for the men of his family to learn martial arts before they began helping around their home. Before firearms were more common, the head of the house would have to fight off any threat that wandered into their lives. Since they couldn't afford to own anything more than a simple ax, martial arts was the next best thing, even if the threat was just some wild animals.

Despite his good intentions, the trained farmer had _one_ little flaw in his argument, something that his beloved wife was quick to point out.

"YOU started your training when you were at least ten! Our son isn't even four, for god's sake! He can barely hold his plate, let alone fight anyone!" Alma retorted, trying her best to keep her voice low. The child in question should be fast asleep in the next room and the last thing she needs right now is for him to be up later than his parents were.

"I'm just saying, he could benefit from doing some training there and then practicing here until he's older! That way, we can save more money for any future classes!"

"I don't care if we're going to save money, I am NOT letting you risk our child's safety over there! If you hadn't noticed lately, we've been getting brats in Orin uniforms trying to screw with our property and destroy our only source of income!"

"Those're just outliers! Any other member of the Orin Temple would be more disciplined and learned than those punks! The hell's your point anyway?!"

"My _point_ is that I will not let those disrespectful punks lay a hand on my little chestnut and make him into an unruly delinquent like them! THAT. IS. **FINAL**!"

As soon as Alma finished her rant, little footsteps could be heard quickly moving away from the kitchen door.

"Shit, he's been awake this whole time, hasn't he?" Kanu winced at the revelation.

"Eeyup. I'll go take care of him." Alma sighed as she began to go after their child. Before she entered the hallway next to the kitchen, she looked back at her husband with the fierce expression you get when you just want to go the hell to sleep.

"We don't talk about this again until he's older, understand me?" The tired mother said slowly, venom dripping with each word she said. It was a question that didn't need an answer. Kanu knew his spouse enough to know when to back down. He just slowly nodded his head as he headed towards their bedroom, which laid on the opposite side of the little house.

Alma sighed as she began to exit into the hallway. This wasn't anything new in their home. After all, infants often woke up past midnight as well, though you really couldn't get mad at them for doing so. A baby could be easily put back to sleep in about ten minutes. A three-year-old, on the other hand, was a bit peskier to deal with this late than a three-week-old. But no matter how irritated she was at this point, Alma made sure to remain calm as she dealt with her child. Yelling didn't exactly make for a good lullaby now, did it?

As she reached her son's bedroom door, she reached out for the knob and slowly crept inside. In the dark of the night, she saw a tiny mass huddled next to the handcrafted bed placed against the corner of the room. Alma could hear sniffling as she crept down to her son's level. She wouldn't be surprised if her yelling had frightened her little chestnut like this. The brunette woman wasn't one to yell very often, though it would always be a nasty sight when she had to.

"Sweetie, what's the matter?" She asked in a soothing whisper, placing her hand onto the little boy's shoulder. Her son slowly turned to face his tired mother. The room may have been dark, but Alma could see the tears that fell onto her child's cheeks as he sat in front of her, trembling in fear.

"Hey, what's with all the tears? There isn't anything to cry about, is there?" When he wouldn't respond to her question, Alma gently scooted her child into her lap and held him against her as his trembling continued.

"It's okay, you can tell your mama what's wrong. You don't need to be so sad." She gently cooed as she let her child cling to her nightgown. Soon enough, he had stopped his shaking and could finally say something coherent.

"M-Mama, are you and D-Daddy mad at me...?" The boy finally asked, voice quivering as he tried to speak above a whisper. Alma already had an idea of where this was coming from, but she wanted to encourage her son to speak up when in trouble so she feigned ignorance for a bit.

"Of course not! Why would you think that we were?"

"I-I heard you yelling... a-and you only y-yell if I did s-something wrong..."

It was just as she thought, her boy just got scared by his parents' arguing. What child wouldn't be scared whenever their parents got loud? If they could afford to insolate the walls or even just soundproof parts of their house, then he wouldn't have to hear such nasty yelling...  
But instead, Alma and Kanu just have to make do with calming their boy down themselves, not that they had any objections to spending time with him.

"Oh, sweetie... Sometimes mama and daddy get a little angry with each other, that's all. It has nothing to do with you at all." That was kind of a lie, but he didn't need to know that.

"R-really? I-I'm not in trouble?"

"Of course you aren't, silly! My little chestnut always tries to be on his best behavior doesn't he?" Alma then blew a raspberry into her son's cheek, immediately causing whatever fear was left to vanish as it was replaced with high-pitched squealing and laughter. If the mother had one claim to fame, it would be that her ability to cheer any child up. She always seemed to know just the thing that would make a puffy-eyed face laugh with glee, her child was no exception.

“Ha ha! Mama, stop!” The little boy could hardly hold back his laughter as his mother kept blowing into his cheeks.

After a couple more raspberries, the boy had finally calmed down, any indication of tears having practically vanished. Soon after, he was out like a light.

(He must’ve been more tuckered out than I thought…)

The brunette still had a big smile on her face as she gently laid her child into his bed and pulled the covers over him. She never felt it was necessary to completely tuck him in before bed, but she always made sure to be there before he fell asleep anyway.

Now that her job was done, she carefully rose from the small bed and silently exited her son's bedroom. On the nearby wall, a little wooden clock read ‘1:00 a.m. The exhaustion that Alma had forgotten about has now returned in full force. She probably would've passed out if she didn't have the sheer will to keep moving to her bedroom.

Well, that and she had this crappy cough that kept her from relaxing too much. Luckily, it didn’t interrupt her time with her son, but it has been plaguing the poor woman for the past week or so… In fact, she almost had a particularly nasty fit as soon as she got into bed. She was able to suppress it somewhat, though the force alone still shook the whole bed pretty hard.

"Damn, we need to get that checked out soon. It sounds worse than yesterday…" Kanu piped up, holding back a yawn. Alma just stared at her husband, considering whether she should even bother talking right now. She did anyway.

“You know we couldn’t afford it. Even if we could get a doctor, there’s no way we can pay for a prescription…”

“Babe, you know I would do anything if my family is involved. I want everyone here to be as comfortable as we can make it.”

The brunette just gave her husband a weary smile.

“I know you would do anything, honey. That trait of yours is what got you into so much trouble back when we were kids. You remember the time your mother got sick, so you raided your neighbor’s orange tree to help her?” She fondly reminisced.

“Hey, Vitamin C is good for treating colds! I’d take an orange over pills any day!” Kanu chuckled. The farmer then gave his wife a quick peck on the cheek as he pulled her into a warm embrace, ready to finally go (ᵗʰᵉ ᶠʳᶦᶜᵏ) to sleep.

“Remember, we’ve got an important day tomorrow. Can’t let some cold ruin it for everyone now, can we dear?”

“I guess we can’t, hon. After all, I’ve got plenty of cooking to do!”

“Hm… Let’s just get to sleep first before we deal with all of that.”

That was something that the two could finally agree on. Before they both fell asleep, Alma took one quick look at the calendar across from her. She’d had been scheduling all kinds of food prep for the past few days. In just a few hours, it would finally be the day she’s had circled the entire year.

(October 29th…My little Krillin’s birthday.)

He would be four years old when they finally woke up in the morning. For the past week, Alma and Kanu had been trying to preparing a nice dinner for their pride and joy. The only thing they weren’t able to get was a cake, though he would hopefully prefer the other food instead. When you’re a poor farming family, you don’t exactly want your kid to get an insane sweet tooth. Still, Alma wished she could’ve gotten something special for her little boy.

But ultimately, she needed to go to sleep. Worrying was only going to make it worse. As the brunette drifted off to sleep, she had one last thought pop into her head.

(God, don’t let life beat my little chestnut down. Give him the strength to get back up, even when he doesn’t have us…)

With that, Alma finally fell into a deep slumber, tucked within the arms of her husband. It felt like nothing was going to tear this family apart, no matter what happened.

However, life doesn’t always work that way. Krillin would be able to get up from life’s future beatdowns, sure, but nobody ever expected just how quickly the poor toddler would have to deal with them.

Nor did any soul know that it would all begin with the sweet, gentle Alma…

\- - -

(Author Speaks)

Here's a tiny problem I've run into before posting this.

I wanted to insert I picture I drew of Alma and Kanu as a little bonus, buuuut posting pictures here require a URL and I don't want to potentially allow for certain individuals to find out I'm writing fanfictions by tracing the art back to my deviantart...

So instead of a nice little picture I spent a couple hours on, I'm just going to use other fictional characters to describe my character's appearances.

So think of Alma someone with the body of Nao Egokoro (but with short, brunette hair) and the upbeat cheerfulness of Isabelle

And think of Kanu as a slightly more emotional version of Keiji Shinogi, same build but with black hair)

I'll see if I can figure out how to get my original picture up in a future chapter. Until then, I hope you've enjoyed this little story so far! Because it is gonna get much more depressing right after this chapter... :c


	2. Chapter 2: It All Breaks Down

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This happy family begins to fall apart and the motions of fate begin to turn.

November rain tends to suck the life out of everything when it decides to come around. Everything outside just becomes a bleak, nasty mess as the rain dampens everything into gross mush, a far cry from the vibrant fall colors that had surrounded the outskirts of East City. It's also a time when the roads are pretty much left alone, as most people would prefer to stay indoors rather than deal with sucky weather.

But despite it all, there was one pick-up truck that kept driving along the country roads that led into East City. As the beat-up navy blue car traveled to its destination, two individuals sat within in complete silence.

A little boy, no more than four, and his father, a haggard farmer with an unshaven face. Their names were Krillin and Kanu respectively. They had been driving for what felt like hours to the toddler, all in near silence save for the cold rain gently pattering against the vehicle. For the past fifteen minutes or so, the only thing that these two did was drive or mess with the strings of their raincoat, mostly out of boredom.

"Um, Daddy? Where're we going?" Krillin finally piped up, breaking the deafening silence between him and his father. It took a few seconds for the boy to get any response from the tired farmer beside him.

"You'll see when we get there, just...keep quiet for now, okay?" Kanu was in no mood to talk at the moment. He was too hyper-focused on his destination to think of a better response. Though, perhaps he would prefer to focus on something other than today...

"B-But what about Mama? Why didn't she come with us?"

Kanu didn't say anything else, just keeping his tired eyes on the road and a calloused hand on the wheel. Eventually, Krillin gave into his father's wish and didn't let out a peep for the rest of the ride. The little boy looked back at the bag he was told to bring along. His father had hastily stuffed the burlap bag full of his son's clothes and shoes just before they left their little farm.

The young Krillin was still confused by this whole situation he had been in for the past month or so. Just after his fourth birthday went by, his mother had suddenly been spending more time in bed than doing anything else. Eventually, she stopped getting up entirely, unable to do much besides endure these awful coughing fits...

Last week, a strange man called a 'Dock-Ter' came over to stay at their house. Until now, he had been watching over the toddler's mother at all hours of the day, only leaving her side if Krillin or his dad could watch her. Krillin even learned how to call an ambulance in case his mom started to hack up any red stuff and no other adult was around to help. If there was one thing the little boy learned after all of this, it was that his mother should never be left alone, even after the 'Dock-Ter' had finally left.

So why were they doing just that? Why leave Mama home alone when she could need help? It just didn't make any sense!

After a half-hour of driving, Krillin and his father finally made it to their destination. Kanu quickly parked the old pick-up right next to an old stone gate. As soon as the truck was stopped, the farmer looked back at his little boy.

"Okay, we're here. Grab your bag and let's hurry inside." Kanu quickly ordered.

"O-Okay, Daddy! I got it!"

"Good. I got an umbrella for us, so get beside me as soon as we get out."

Krillin just nodded as he nabbed the rough burlap behind his seat and climbed out of the pick-up truck. He then did as his father said and stood beside him as the farmer opened up the black umbrella he held. As they began to walk towards the gate entrance, Krillin finally saw what it was they were headed for.

A large, red building laid in the back of a small courtyard, the ends of the gate's stone walls connected to either side of the edifice. There was what looked to be a miniature version of the first building placed on the top, with a black curved roof adorning the tops of both structures. To put it simply, this was something that Krillin had never known existed before. The whole place wouldn't be too stunning to an adult, but it was as big as a palace to any four-year-old who saw it in full!

Kanu noticed his son's face fill with awe and wonder at the sight of the old building. After everything that's happened this month, his son's reaction was the first thing in a long while that gave the man a good chuckle.

"So, what d'ya think of it? It's pretty big, right?"

Krillin looked back at his father, then at the building, then back to dad again.

"What's that, Daddy? What is it?" The boy excitedly pointed at the source of his marvel. His father couldn't help but smile at his son's excited gestures.

"That, my boy, is Orin Temple. Your grandaddy used to take me here for my martial arts lessons. It's a little small, but I bet you're gonna like it a lot."

Krillin's excitement finally burst forth as he took a running start towards the temple doors, not even bothering to wait for his still-fatigued father to catch up.

"Krillin, hey! Slow down or you'll slip on a puddle!" With that, the farmer began to chase his son up the steps and into the temple.

* * *

"It's so good to see you again, Kanu! How many years has it been since you've been here?"

"Honestly, it feels like it's been decades since I've even stepped in!"

As Kanu and an older nun chatted away, Krillin was in awe of all that he could find. He wanted to know what everything and anything around him was and no one was going to stop him from wandering about the place. In fact, Kanu pretty much encouraged it while he talked with the nun.

"Son, why don't ya go check the place out while I talk with Ms. Satsuma? I'll come find ya when I'm done."

"Okay!"

The boy hugged his dad before running off to explore the temple. Most of the rooms he found didn't have much to be found besides fighting mats, tables, or nothing at all. Krillin soon found himself walking through hallways in the back of the building, where there was more to be found. Each room he passed held the sounds of students performing drills, instructors bleating out different commands each second, and nuns holding prayer sessions with visitors.

While he came in with adventure on his mind, the boy was beginning to have trouble navigating the winding hallways and soon felt intimidated by all of the larger kids and adults that walked by him. Eventually, he decided to try and trace his steps back to his father, but suddenly-

"Hey watch it, kid!" A brash voice called out as a sudden force shoved the poor boy into a tatami wall. As Krillin tried to push himself away from the scratchy surface, he felt himself get pushed back into the hard wall. Laughing could be heard as he struggled to get away from whatever held the child in place.

"Who the hell brought their tyke here?" A shrill voice asked aloud.

"Dunno, but I think they need to be taught some manners, right Yuzu?" Another rang out, sounding much deeper than the previous. Behind Krillin were two older and much larger monks. One was a real scrawny fella and the other was almost as wide as the hallway itself. It was the stout one that kept the poor child pinned to the wall, the surface scratching his cheeks red.

As the two monks laughed at their little nuisance, Krillin began to wriggle about, becoming more and more panicked as each second passed.

"L-Lemme go! LEMME GO!" The boy cried out, grabbing the attention of the person holding him down. The two forces behind him turned out to

"Oh, ya hear that, Yuzu? He wants to be let go! What d'ya think he's gonna do if we don't?"

"Probably cry for his momma or something! Haw haw!" Yuzu chortled uproariously.

"Yeah, he probably would! Just look at him, he ain't any tougher than those trainin' dummies we use. What a wuss!"

And it was at this point that the young boy had enough of Yuzu and this other asshat's deal with him. He began to violently squirm against the wall he was pushed on, trying to wring himself out of the tough grip he was in. But a toddler fighting against a trained Orin monk wasn't going to end in the kid's favor. Instead, it just made the bullies behind him laugh even harder.

"Oh look, Adachi! Isn't he just tryin' his hardest to fight back?"

"He won't be doin' that for long, that's for sure! What should we do with the twerp?"

Krillin couldn't take it anymore. As he felt his eyes begin to water, the boy took the deepest breath he could and let out a piercing shout.

"DADDY! **DADDY!!! HELP ME!!!"**

"Oh my god! He's actually doing it, Yuzu!" Adachi bellowed as his scrawny friend held his sides.

"Haw haw haw! What a little piece of-"

"Y̸̛̹͈̦̤̝͝o͘҉̮͎͜u̲̮̟̹̞͝ ̪̼̖̫̱̣̘f͓͚̯̞ͅu̫̘̱̺̘̬c̩̟̯̺̺̱ͅͅk̡̜̺̰e̛̤͉̳ͅr̺͇͖͈͡s̗̮̠̰̠̦̕ ̺̭̻̩̺͈̺̺̯w̢͢҉̦̮̖̲̙̝̥a͓̻̭̞̜n̨̧͚̜̦͚t̢̼ ̸̨̭͇̲ţ̧̹͙̯̯̩͍o̰̩̖ ̗̼̱̫͉̺͎͝h͏̖̳̞̖͕̻a̪̱̹̝̘̰̙v͙̞̰̘ͅe͔̠͈̦̪͟ͅ ̴̥̕y̴̥̫̦̹͜o̧̟̼͖͔͔͇̩͚͈u̹͎̝̬̙̕r͉̣̠̹̻̟̮̘̥ ̷̧̞͓̞̙ḩ̴͇̬͉͖̱̥̙e̸̫̙̝͖̤̼̜̯̠͡a̶̠̟̬̞̥̜̮͚͢ḑ̩͎̹̙s҉͈̺̖̳̪̲͝ ̶̺͓̪̥͓͓̬̭ș̥͠h̯̲̤̣̗͍̳̞͈o͏̶̹̻̳v͏̼̳̝̥͎̰̲e҉͓̘̭̘̠̖̮d͔͈̥͔̞̭ͅ ҉͉͚͕̝͙̺u̴̞̰̱͉̟̪̭p̤͖ ̸͏̠̲y̶̫̖̺̰̜̙͓̹͟ơ̵̪̘͈̥͢u̲̗̫̟ͅr̸̙͙̤̰͡ ̨̱̭̣̹̥͖ͅͅa̯͈̘̩̭͓̱̗s̴̳͚̞̥͔̕s̮̕e̢̙̗͖̩͚͜ş̸̥ ̟̼̫̖͕͇͞o҉̨͓̰͚̞̰̫̥͜r͏̬̹̪̮̗̰̻ ̺̯̖̭̰̳̩̦d͞҉̣͙o͚̫͡ ̶̯̘̯̕ͅy̵̛͇̗̬͚̩̪͓o͈͉̦̞̬̜̲̘ų̻̪̰̟̰̭̼͢͟ ̢̲̬͟w̡͓͕a̶̭̖͚͚͈̤̠͞n̦̻̱̪̖̱ṯ̹̖̰̣ ̸̩̤̗͈̼̼͠ṯ̸̣͖͖o̶͈̱͎̙̣͠ ̢̻̳͈̩̳̭͜͡l͓̮͈̜̙͖̙̕e͕̯͠t͓̥̥̻̰͉̟̠ ̨̪͚̫̹͜ͅm̟̞͠͠͝y͏̬̜̞ ̷̵͚͕s̵͔͘͡ͅͅǫ̢̝͉̝̺n̶̤͟ ̴͏͚͉͉̰̺ͅg̵͇̮̟͙̞̮o̴̼͓͚ͅ?̠͖̗͖͟"

As soon as Krillin had called out for him, Kanu himself appeared right behind the two bullies in front of him, deathly intent decorating his face. The two monks were in complete shock as they saw the farmer towered over them, staring them both dead in the eye.

"Uh-" Adachi tried to say something in response.

But no answer was needed today. Kanu quickly knocked both monks out with a well-placed strike to the neck. He then walked over to his son, who laid on the floor trembling in fear. The deathly serious expression soon morphed into concern as the farmer knelt to Krillin's level and lifted the trembling child into his arms.

"Krillin, are you okay?! Did those bastards hurt you?!"

"-hic- D-Daddy, I...I...!"

The toddler couldn't do anything other than hold onto his father for dear life. Kanu frowned at the two unmoving monks he had done in.

(Hopefully, they won’t be a nuisance after this.)

The farmer walked back to where Ms. Satsuma was, trying to comfort his child on the way.

“Hey, it’s gonna be okay now. We can tell Satsuma here all about it and then they won’t bug ya anymore. That sound good?”

Krillin nodded.

“Alright, that’s good. You don’t need to be scared anymore.”

Satsuma wore a concerned look as the two came up to her.

“Oh dear, what’s gotten the little one all shaken up?”

“Let’s just say there’s been a little problem with a couple a’ punks in the back. I can leave you to take of the verbal part of the punishment, right?”

The old nun sighed.

“I guess even after all these years, you’re still a bit of a firecracker, aren’t you dearie?”

“Hey! I can’t just let two idiots walk all over my kid now, can I? Those two needed to learn that there’re consequences to being ass- er, well, y’know what I mean…” Kanu cut himself off at the end there.

He and many other students of Orin Temple knew well that saying any kind of profanity in front of Ms. Satsuma was the same as having a death wish. While she’s a kind woman most of the time, the nun wasn’t afraid of having to get harsh with anyone caught breaking the rules of the temple, profanity or otherwise.

“Yes, yes, I know. Anyhow, I just want to clarify something with you before you went back, Kanu.” Satsuma said with upmost solemnity, her expression looking more upset than before.

“Hm? What is it?”

“Are you certain that you want us to look after your boy? Mind my manners, but I can’t see why you aren’t able to raise him, with or…without Alma.” Satsuma paused before she mentioned poor Alma. She knew the woman as well as she knew her former student, having helped her prepare for married life and parenthood so many years ago.

Kanu winced at the mention of her name. He put Krillin back down on the floor, unable to keep him up anymore.

“I’m not planning on leavin’ him here forever, Satsuma. I just…none of us are ready for what’s about to happen. I want to be able to have him stay home with me, I really do. But when it’s her time to go, I’m not gonna have the resources or money to feed us well enough.” Kanu looked more tired than he had been in the truck, unable to admit to himself the gravity of his situation even as he talked about it.

“So…until she passes and until I can find myself a better-paying job, Krillin needs to stay here. It's for her sake.”

“Daddy? What’s happening?” Krillin piped in, catching his father off guard. He was so focused on his conversation, he had forgotten that his son still stood beside him after he’d put him down. It hurt the farmer to look at his son, who held onto his pant leg with tiny hands. Kanu turned back towards Satsuma for a moment, pointing to his child.

“Hey, do you mind if I…?”

“Not at all, Kanu.”

With that, the farmer bent down and knelt to his son’s level. He could see where tears had stained the poor boy’s cheeks.

“Krillin, there’s something I need to tell you.”

“W-what is it?” Kanu gulped as he tried to find what to say. There really was no easy way to say this to a toddler.

“There's a reason why I brought you here today. Your mother, she…she’s gonna have to go away soon.” He couldn’t even look his son in the eye as he said it.

“Huh? Why’s Momma going away?”

“Because Momma is too sick to stay here, chestnut. See, if she stays here, her pain’s only gonna get worse and worse…But the place she’s going to is gonna take all that away for her.”

Krillin became a bit more hopeful at that. If Momma’s pain is gonna be taken away, then that means she could just come back when she feels better, right?

“Then, Momma'll come back when she's all better? Will I get to play with her again when she’s done?”

Kanu could barely keep his voice above a whisper, his throat becoming strained as he was forced to crush his son’s hopes.

“Momma…can't come back when she leaves. When someone goes to where she’s going, they’re not allowed to come back home.”

Krillin just froze there, unable to comprehend what he just heard. That can’t be true, right?

“Momma isn’t coming back? Why? If she's gonna get better soon, then why can't she come back home?” His father’s heart broke with each word of that question. Kanu couldn’t answer back, grief consuming his throat as he tried to stay composed. Krillin, unable to stand his silence anymore, grabbed onto his father’s arm, frantically trying to get anything out of him.

“Daddy, why can’t she come back? Momma has to come back, right? Daddy!” Still, no answer was given to the child. Tears threatened to spill out again as he tried to get the answer he wanted.

Suddenly, the little boy was wrapped into a strong hug. Kanu could hardly restrain his tears as he held onto his child, who was also beginning to cry again. Even Satsuma, who had been watching on the sideline, felt her eyes begin to water as she turned her head away from the father and child.

“Daddy…Momma’s coming back, right…?” Krillin tried to ask, but couldn’t raise his voice above a whisper.

“Krillin…I’m so sorry. She…she can’t come back from this. We won't be seeing her for a long, long time…”

There were no more words left to be had. All that filled the room for the next few minutes were the cries of a broken child and a father trying his best to keep them both calm. Satsuma, unable to bear the grief anymore, excused herself and walked into the next room, leaving Krillin and his father alone by the temple doors.

“Krillin, don’t cry…your mother wouldn’t want you to cry…”

“B-But…!”

“We both love you so, _so_ much…And we want to make sure you don't ever have to cry. Can you do it for her, please?”

“O-Okay…”

Kanu released his son from the vice grip, finally able to look him straight in the eye. He was still hesitant to do this, but life didn’t give him much of a choice to back out. It was either this or risk his child’s health in the future. Despite how she felt about the place, Alma would do anything if it meant their son was safe and sound.

“Son, Daddy’s gonna be going away for a little bit as well. I won’t be gone for too long, but until I come back here, you need to be good for Ms. Satsuma and the other adults, okay?”

Krillin nodded slowly, still trying to reel in his tears. Before Kanu could get up, his son quickly grabbed onto his hand.

“What is it?”

“Promise…promise you c-come back soon, right?”

“I won’t be gone for any longer than I need to be. When Daddy finishes what he needs to do, he’s gonna come straight back here.   
“Then we can go back home together and be a family again…”

Kanu pulled his son into another hug, tussling the short, black hair that blanketed his head. He held his son’s small hand in his, giving it a firm squeeze.

“While we’re gone, I want you to be brave for me and your mother. Even when you feel like living’s too hard to bear or when it feels like the world’s against you, you need to stand tall and face it with a smile, okay?”

The boy nodded again.

“Show me the biggest smile you can make. I ain’t leaving until you can show me that you can smile through this.” Kanu coaxed, trying to get his child to do what he asked. Poking his cheeks seemed to do the trick, as Krillin couldn’t help but giggle at the silly contact.

“Atta boy. That’s the best thing you’ve done for me all day.”

“Daddy?”

“Hm?”

“You’ll be back soon, right?”

“I promised you I’d do just that, so promise me in return that you’ll be good for everybody here, ‘kay?”

“Okay. I will.”

Kanu tussled his son’s hair some more before standing back up and heading for the doors. Opening them, they saw that the rain had finally stopped pouring, allowing for a bright sunset to shine beyond the clouds. The light blanketed the cold air with warmth and made just about everything glisten with a bright orange hue.

“Don’t worry, chestnut. I’ll be back before you know it.”

Kanu finally left the temple, got into the beat-up pick-up, and left, his four-year-old still watching him until he became a dot in the distance. Ms. Satsuma appeared beside him, beckoning him to come inside.

“We don’t want to let the cold inside, little one. Come with me and I’ll show you where your room is.” The old nun ordered, holding out her hand for the boy. Krillin grabbed onto what he could and followed her deeper into the temple.

A few months later, the child would begin his martial arts training alongside other students in the temple, learning from Satsuma and still having to deal with bullies at many turns. Eventually, he had to get the temple's marks burned into his head, like everyone else. No matter how much it hurt to have it done, Krillin never cried out during the ordeal. He grinned through it like he was asked to, that way his mother wouldn't have to worry while she was away from him.  
Nine years later, the boy would leave the temple to get training from Master Roshi, unable to deal with the bullying anymore. He said his goodbyes to the few people he trusted at Orin, which was really just Satsuma and another nun he befriended, and left for his journey towards the tiny island.

And in all those years he spent training and surviving Orin Temple, not once did his father ever come back. There was, like, _one_ postcard from West City and that was it. There weren’t even any phone calls in between the day he arrived and the day he left. He didn’t even know whether or not he was still alive at this point, given all the dead air between father and son.

Needless to say, if Krillin ever saw that man again, he’d probably punch him straight in his visible nose. Though he didn’t expect he would get that opportunity so easily. For all he knew, his father could be on the other end of the planet, sipping some god damn martinis while sweet-talking some foreign chick on the beach.

He was better off without the deadbeat, that’s what he thought. Besides, Krillin has a new family in all the friends he’s gained since the boy arrived at Kame House. Even if he wouldn’t openly admit it, he sees Roshi as the father figure he never had at Orin, despite his _peculiar tendencies_. He was better than the asshole who broke his promise to come back, that's for sure! Now a skilled young adult, Krillin had his life where he wanted it right now and nothing could ever take that away from him.

Then one day, some deadbeat dad came knocking on Kame House’s door, standing on the beach with some ten-year-old girl beside him.

(Quick Note!)

Literally, I have tried everyway to get this dang picture onto here, so now we got to wait even more for fricking concept art! I may as well just remove illustration and art from the tags all together, because unless I want to get traced back to another spot I ain't posting jack! (Just check the link here and I'll be on my way: [boop](https://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=75884664))

Sorry about that, I hope you enjoyed this chapter of the story so far. Next chapter is going to have some real _**SPICY**_ interactions between what's left of our little family here 

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) (Yes, as in there's going to be some anger in the air and someone might get punched in the visible nose P; My favorite flavor of drama) ;)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yuzu, Sudachi, and Satsume are all types of citrus fruits. Yuzu and Sudachi tend to resemble one another when they first form, though the Yuzu eventually ripens to an orange color and possesses a slightly different flavor than Sudachi (Though Sudachi are supposed to ripen to a yellow color, they're just normally harvest when they are still very green). Both are also not normally consumed as fruits, but rather their juices are used to add a bit of zest or flavor to dishes. As such, I thought they complimented one another very well and they became the bully duo in this chapter (I thought about just naming Adachi 'Sudachi', but that sounded too much like a girl's name. Hence why I didn't do that.)
> 
> Satsuma is a variety of mandarin, referred to by Wikipedia as Citrus Unshiu. It is described as one of the sweetest varieties of citrus, with a meltingly tender texture. The flesh is very delicate and cannot withstand careless handling (reminds me of when my Dad had to eat a pear over the sink because the juice came out VERY easily). One of it's hybrids is known as a Kiyomi, also a sweet citrus fruit.
> 
> While not mentioned in the story, I like to think of Satsuma's full name as Ms. Kiyomi Satsuma, one of the head nuns of Orin Temple (I assume there would be nuns in a temple but if I'm wrong then shieet...)


	3. Chapter 3: It Just Keeps Tumbling Down, Tumbling Down, Tumbling Down

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Take a shot of Mountain Dew for every ellipses you see in this chapter. You won't get drunk, but you'll definitely need to pee after this massive word salad. Enjoy as much as you can, projected reading time is about 20 minutes or so. Get comfy, this is gonna be a while.

It was a mild summer day at Kame House. Unlike most of the season so far, the weather today was much cooler than the previous weeks before it. It was perfect for getting some well-needed training done, exactly what Krillin had on his mind for the past few days. Now that this prolonged heatwave has finally taken a break, he can get back into his routine for a good few hours. Inside his room, the bald fighter laid shirtless on the ground, halfway through his one hundred situps. It felt like nothing could break the stride he had going on right now-

"Hey, Krillin?" An old voice suddenly asked out.

Of course, he had to jinx it all like that. Krillin looked up at the doorway to see Roshi standing within. With an annoyed sigh, the young man got up from the floor.

"What do you want now, Roshi? Is the AC broken again?" Krillin asked his teacher, irritated by the interruption. Roshi gave his student a sharp glare.

"Don't take that tone with me now, youngster. I just came to tell ya that we've got some company downstairs. Specifically, _you've_ got some company waitin' for ya downstairs."

He had company? Well, it wouldn't be too weird for him to have visitors now and again, but he was a bit confused by the sudden news. Most of his friends were busy with their own business and while he wished it was so, Krillin doubted that this visitor was Goku. Roshi would've definitely been more excited to tell him if it was.

"Uh, did they say who they were? Is it Ms. Satsuma?" Maybe she had come over to visit her former student. But if she did, how was she able to find out where he lived? Most people, let alone an old temple nun, probably wouldn't know much about deciphering an island's coordinates. Roshi shook his head.

"No, it ain't her. It's this older fellow and his little girl who came to visit. Apparently, they're your, er, 'relatives.'" The old teacher answered, with big quotations around the word _relatives_.

"Relatives? Roshi, I, don't think I _have_ any relatives."

"Well, that's not what the man downstairs is sayin'."

Krillin was taken slightly aback by this news. He didn't think he had any other relatives besides his parents and they've been gone from his life for almost fifteen years now. Perhaps it was an aunt or uncle he never knew about? The only other person he was aware of was a grandfather, but he's been dead for longer than Krillin's been alive.

Before Krillin could ponder any further, Roshi snapped his fingers loudly. It caught the young man off guard, causing him to turn his attention back towards the old master.

"Before you head down there, put a shirt on will ya? I don't want you scarring that girl's little mind now." He was one to talk, having done quite a few perverted things that would leave a lasting mark in any head. But Krillin wasn't in the mood to argue about it.

"Tell them I'll be down in a minute."

Roshi hummed in response, heading back downstairs into the living room. Krillin quickly rummaged through his own separate clothes drawer, looking for a clean shirt to wear. He considered wearing the one he discarded earlier, but it was a little too dirty for his liking. After a couple of seconds, the young man found a plain white t-shirt and promptly pulled it over himself. He then left his room and descended the stairs, still pondering over just who these 'relatives' could be.

(If these are just some con-men trying to steal from us, I swear I'm gonna-) But before Krillin could finish that thought, a deep voice called out to him.

"Ah, there you are! My goodness, I can hardly recognize ya Krillin!" Just before the bald fighter had reached the first floor, a tall middle-aged man stood up from the red couch to face him. This man wore a simple navy-blue suit and a matching fedora, with a red tie wrapped around his shirt collar. He wore a neat, greying beard that covered everything just below the mouth. It emphasized the overall sharp look the man had going on.

Still sitting on the couch beside him, a little girl turned her head towards the young fighter. From what could be seen, she had messy dark-brown hair that was tied up into a ponytail and a plastic white flower pinned into the side of her head. She didn't look to be any older than ten, probably a fourth-grader. Maybe this was his daughter?

The older man walked up to Krillin, placing a firm hand on his shoulder.

"I'm impressed with ya, boy. You've certainly grown since I last saw you. I'm glad to see that you're all fine and well!"

Instinctively, Krillin pulled himself away from the older man's grasp. This whole exchange was weirding him out.

"What the hell are you doing? Don't touch me!" Krillin exclaimed, keeping himself a good few inches away from the stranger. The older man frowned at this reaction.

"Aw come on, chestnut. This is how you're gonna treat me? Don't ya recognize me at all?" The man had a weird tone in his voice. It was like he was pretended to be disappointed, trying to be funny in some way. All it did was just making Krillin more and more uncomfortable with his guest. And did he just call him 'chestnut?'

"N-No, I _don't_ recognize you. Like, _at all_! Should I know you?" Krillin asked, glaring at the other man as he kept his guard up. Whoever this guy was, his gut instinct was telling him to keep away. The older man shook his head, his frown becoming something in between that and a smirk.

"I see...I guess it has been a long time since you last saw me. Can't say I'm surprised, though that doesn't mean it hurts any less to see my boy treat his old man as though he were some _stranger_." He tsked.

Krillin froze. What did he just say? That guy just said it so casually that our young fighter almost missed that little bit at the end.

"Old man...? I don't understand..."

"Hmm...Maybe takin' this stuffy thing off will help you remember? It'd be worth a shot."

The man promptly took off his hat and combed his hand through his graying black hair, smoothing out any rats and tangles the fedora caused. It took Krillin a few moments to truly understand just who the person standing before him. That face...that face was something he hadn't seen since he was a little kid.

"W-What? You can't be...Dad...?"

"Do ya know who I am now? It's me, your dear old daddy! Or maybe you'd prefer 'Kanu,' but it doesn't matter to me!" The other man wrapped Krillin into a tight hug.

"I'm so glad to see ya after all this time! We've got a lot of catching up to do, my boy!"

The martial artist didn't immediately wring himself out of it yet. For a few seconds, he just stood there in a daze. This man couldn't be his father, right? From what he knew, his father could never wear a nice suit, no matter how simple it was. It would just be too expensive for a poor farming family. Everything was becoming a confusing jumble...

And more confused Krillin got, the more irritated he became.

"H-hey! Let go for a second, would you!?" The fighter exclaimed, trying to push himself out of the hug.

"Alright, alright. Geez, you've been growin' a few thorns, haven't you?" Kanu released his son from the vice grip he put them both in. Krillin's eyes shot daggers full of animosity into the man. Kanu didn't seem to expect this kind of reaction, glancing away from his irate son.

"Er, sorry... Maybe this stairwell isn't the best place to talk. Why don't we move into the living room here?" The father suggested, running another hand through his slicked-back hair. Krillin only nodded, still giving his father the death glare as he followed him into the next room.

Once they arrived in the living room, Kanu sat back down on the red sectional couch, the impact of which threw the little girl up some centimeters. She quickly sat back up, now glaring at the father as well.

"Daddy! You almost made me fall over!" The girl whined.

"Oh! Sorry, kiddo. I'll be careful next time." The man then tussled the little girl's hair, which just seemed to annoy her more. Krillin stared at the two, arms folded and leg impatiently bouncing. Soon enough, the two noticed the young man's impatience and quickly composed themselves. Kanu cleared his throat.

"So...how've you been doing?"

"Fine."

"Just fine? Nothin' else to talk about? Nothin' interesting happened recently?" Kanu prodded.

"Nope," Krillin answered quickly.

"Er, then what about friends? You've had to have made some by now, right?"

"..."

Geez, this got more awkward than daddy Kanu expected.

"Then...Maybe you just want your old man to answer some questions for ya?" The dad asked bashfully, one hand rubbing the back of his neck. After a few seconds, his son answered again.

"Yeah, I guess I do," Krillin muttered, venom seeping into every word. The little girl across from him looked uncomfortable, keeping eye contact with the martial artist at a minimum.

"I'll try to answer ya as best as I can, so give me-" But Kanu was cut off before he could finish.

"Where the actual _hell_ were you?! You leave me at a temple for fifteen years and it's _now_ that you've decided to actually find me again!? _"_ Krillin suddenly exclaimed, startling Kanu and the little girl. The child winced at the shouting and the father was visibly sweating.

"W-Woah. I figured you might, uh, ask about _that_...but can you keep the volume down first? You're scaring poor Maka over here!" Kanu pointed to the girl in question, who tried to keep a serious face as she clutched at the hems of her denim shorts.

Krillin took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. Even if he was angry with his father, he didn't want to see some kid get scared by something they couldn't control.

The breath didn't calm him down all the way but kept him coherent enough.

"Okay, fine. But you owe me a lot of explaining, _Dad_." Krillin muttered bitterly. Kanu nervously adjusted his tie, still a bit shaken by his son's outburst.

"Just tell me what you want to know, boy. No reason to get into hysterics..." That last bit got onto the fighter's nerves. Being calm was halfway out the window now.

"No reason? Dad, you haven't bothered to even _contact_ me, let alone visit, for over a decade!" Krillin got a bit louder again, though kept it more controlled. Kanu looked down at his lap, a wave of guilt coming over him.

"I...I know, Krillin. I'm sorry about that. I've been meanin' to keep in touch, but other business just kept getting in the way."

"What kind of ' _business'_ kept you from even sending a letter? Even a napkin with something like ' _I'm doing fine,_ ' doesn't take more than five minutes to send out! What stopped that from happening at all?!"

"C-Can you just let me explain myself?! If you give me five or ten minutes, I can clear some things up, okay!?" Kanu pleaded with his practically livid son.

As much as he wanted to let his father feel the near-unbridled rage he caused, Krillin decided to let the old man talk anyway. He didn't know why he was letting the deadbeat talk, but he just figured that it'd be better than causing a scene.

Keep note of that thought as the story progresses.

"Okay...I'll try to keep this as concise as I can. Can you remember much from when we went to Orin Temple?" Now he's asking the questions? Whatever, Krillin figured he'll play along if only to get his answer.

"Kind of. You told me Mom was dying and you had to go find a better job."

"Hm...Well, that's pretty much the long and short of it..." Kanu's expression pained a bit at the memory. While Krillin could only remember as much as a toddler's brain allowed, his father can recall some of the more gory details of Alma's illness. It wasn't a very pretty sight...

I guess even after a decade and a half, it's hard to keep that memory from surfacing.

"Anyways, after...after she passed on, I sold the farm we used to live on. I used the money to get a bus to West City and soon I started workin' for this packaging company downtown.  
"As soon as I got the job, I began saving as much money as I could. The goal was to get a decent apartment, something that could hold a little family."

"And how long did this apartment take to get exactly?" Krillin prodded his father, who hesitated on the answer.

"It, um, took about two years." Krillin raised an eyebrow at that.

"If it only took two years to get that apartment, then what stopped you from coming back to Orin?"

Kanu gulped, wringing his hands uncomfortably. He looked like he was bracing himself for something. The father shouldn't have anything to be scared of, right? I mean, it's just a simple answer...

Okay, it wasn't that simple for the old man.

"So! I met this coworker at the packaging company one day. She was a new worker, so I was tasked to show her 'round the place.  
"We introduced ourselves, she said her name was Peko, and... Y'know, I thought it was just gonna be a casual acquaintance-"

"Quit rambling, dad. Get to whatever point you're trying to make," Krillin motioned his hands forward. This conversation was supposed to be 'concise,' but now it was starting to move at a creep. But this felt intentional, for some reason. Why was his dad taking so long with this part?

"Um, basically Peko and I got a little more serious than that."

Oh... Was that it?

(I mean, I guess I can't get mad with him finding a girlfriend or whatever. Doesn't surprise me that he'd try to move on.) The young man kept his calm demeanor up for now. While there was still more to this subject, Krillin thought that it was going to get smoother from here.

(This is going better than I thought. Maybe everything will be okay)

That thought is the second time Krillin jinxed himself today. And just like the first time, it involved another person interrupting him in some way.

"Daddy? Is this when I surprise him?" Maka whispered, nudging Kanu's side. She had remained awfully quiet throughout the whole conversation, so her sudden talking immediately caught the young man's attention.

That's right, Maka has been calling Kanu her 'Daddy.' For such an important clue to who she is, that little fact was just glossed over for the Daddy in question. Why the hell didn't Krillin think about this until now?

"Yeah, you can do your little surprise now. You know what you want to say?" The father and little girl kept whispering to each other, almost ignoring the martial artist right across from them.

Krillin loudly coughed, garnering his guests' attention again.

"Dad, I don't mean to intrude on your chat, but are you going to keep this story of yours going? Or do you have some more 'business' to do?" The force of those quotations around ' _business'_ could be felt in your bones.

Kanu whispered to Maka one more time.

"Okay, go!"

With that, the little girl jumped up from her seat and walked right over to Krillin's side. Once she got to him, she just stood there for a little while and stared right through the martial artist. The way she looked at him with surprisingly hard and calculating eyes...Well, it was just plain creepy! Her look could make anybody's skin want to crawl away.

"W-What? What is it?" Krillin asked nervously. Maka didn't respond, but her eyes were beginning to show some hint of emotion, glancing back towards Kanu. The old man simply gave her a thumbs up. She seemed to be getting a bit nervous as well.

And for some reason, looking directly at her was tripping something off in Krillin's head.

This was their first meeting and yet Maka looked a just a little bit...familiar?  
Scratch that, she looked _way_ too familiar for Krillin's liking. It was something about her whole face...it just rubbed him the wrong way.

Where had he seen it before? Why has he seen it before? He's never even met this girl until today and yet he's having this weird case of déjà vu because of her! Krillin wanted to think about this for a moment...

But suddenly, Maka cut off that train of thought by outright hugging the martial artist.

"H-Huh?! What the?!" Krillin would've jumped out his seat in shock if it wasn't for this hug. It wasn't a vice grip like with Kanu, but it was certainly a tight enough squeeze that Krillin's surprised jolt was mostly suppressed. This girl was surprisingly strong for her age.

Before she could do any damage with that squeeze, Maka pulled back to face Krillin once again. This time, she wore a bright smile and excited eyes.

"It's...It's finally nice to meet you, Big Bro! I can't wait to get to know you!" She said it so cheerfully, it almost made you forget what that surprise meant.

Complete silence for ten whole seconds.

"What," Krillin deadpanned. Kanu was trying to hold back a snicker as he watched Maka's little surprise unfold.

"See now, this is what happened after me n' Peko got more serious. Krillin, that girl right there, my little macadamia nut, is your new sister!" The father exclaimed, outstretching his arms to present the little girl.

Krillin said nothing. He just sat there, alternating his sight between his father and Maka. Everything was finally clicking together.

This must be why Maka looked so familiar. Her face structure, the way her eyes looked, it all resembled bits of Krillin and bits of Kanu. The only differences Krillin didn't share with her were her dark-brown hair and the fact that she actually had a nose. Those must've come from his father and Peko, who he's to assume is also his step-mother of sorts.

"So...What d'ya think? Pretty cool, am I right?"

Silence, once again.

"Son? You, uh...You doin' okay? Did we surprise you into a mute?"

"Um, did you not like my surprise, Big Bro? I-I practiced it and everything..."

...

"So, this is my answer, huh?" Krillin mumbled, completely deadpan. There was no joy in his voice. There wasn't any emotion in his voice, at least not yet.

The guests were beginning to get worried, Kanu more so than Maka. This wasn't the reaction the father was expecting and he was expecting literally anything else to happen.

"Um...What do you mean, son? A-Are you feeling okay?" Kanu asked in an anxious tone. He tried to lighten the mood by jokingly putting his hand onto his son's forehead, but Krillin quickly smacked it hard.

"Eep!" Maka squeaked. As soon as Kanu got smacked, she immediately distanced herself away from her brother.

"Ow!! The hell was that for, boy?!"

"This is what you decided to do after you left? You started a whole new family after you just dropped me at Orin?"

Krillin's final straw snapped. Needless to say, Kanu had royally screwed up with this little plan of his, whatever his intentions were.

"H-Hey now! That's...look, that's not _exactly_ what happened..."

"Uh, I think that is _exactly_ what your little stunt here told me!"

Kanu was trying to explain himself, but his son wasn't having any of that. He was going to lay all the guilt out onto the table.

You know, there was probably another calmer way that this conversation could've played out, had the estranged party planned their surprise more carefully.

But I think that train left the station a few years ago.

In the face of this revelation, instead of just instantly punching Kanu in the nose or throwing him into the ocean, Krillin didn't do anything. He just sat there and...chuckled? It sounded similar to a chuckle, but it was anything but jolly or happy.

Instead, it felt like hell itself had just come over the house. The guests were growing more and more concerned with Krillin's behavior.

"Krillin? Y-You're freakin' me out here..." Kanu tried to speak reasonably, but his son ignored reason and logic right now.

"Y'know, I remember this other thing from when you took me to Orin. You promised, with _tears_ in your eyes, that you would come back to get me as soon as you could. But hey, I guess that was too hard for you to bother with-" But Kanu quickly interjected.

"H-Hey! Let's not get ahead of ourselves here. You don't understand the context of my situation-" Likewise, Krillin interrupted.

"What don't I understand? That you abandoned me at some orphanage while you found some new wife? That you basically threw away your old family for some chick who didn't get sick?!"

"Son, that's not what happened! I just...L-Look, I got sidetracked, that's all! I'm here now, so that should count right?" Kanu's answers sounded more and more like poor excuses. He kept his eyes to the side, unable to look the livid son in the eye.

"You got sidetracked? From what, taking a day or two out of the year to check up on your kid!? From being a father to more than one child?!" The martial artist's voice grew louder by the second.

"Uugh, D-Daddy?" Maka turned to her father for help. She was looking more and more distressed by her brother's enraged ranting. Krillin quickly noticed her and used her presence to his advantage...

Well, whatever imaginary advantage he thought he had.

"C'mon, old man...Just tell everyone here the _real_ reason why you never did any of that for your son!" Krillin began to mockingly imitate his father's inflection as he continued. Kanu could see what road this was going down and so he began to hold his ground against his son's rash thinking.

"R-Real reason...? Son, whatever the hell you're thinkin', you'd better keep it as a thought...!" Kanu growled, his volume beginning to rise alongside his son's.

"Don't avoid it! Tell it to me! Hell, say it in front of your little girl! Let her know just what her dad really is!" The martial artist pointed a thumb to Maka, who was slowly trying to inch away from this disaster-in-progress. She looked like a deer caught in the headlights, unable to move away fast enough.

"Boy, keep that trap shut!" The father warned, stepping up to the martial artist

"Let her hear about how for all the hugs and good tidings and all the other bullshit you tried using on me, you only did it because _YOU_ f̵̠̝̝̄͊ú͎͖̜̱̳̲̫̒̐ͮ͛̃́̆c̢̲̺̺̋͑ͭͦ͘k͔͓̩͙̤͉̿̉͊̾̽̎͘e̷͖̜̤ͣͤ̐̓̑̚͘ͅͅͅd̗͓̐̀͆̔̈͝ up your most basic responsibility!"

"Stop talking, _now_."

"Tell her about how when life gets a _little_ too hard, you can always be a scumbag and leave your children for some new, young chick! After all, we're apparently nothing more than useless baggage for you, right?!"

"Daddy...? What does that mean...?" Maka looked to her father again, her wide eyes holding so much fear at that moment. It felt like everything was crumbling down for everyone present.

You can't blame Krillin for getting angry with his father...

 _But pulling a child into his personal mess isn't justifiable at all._ For Kanu's major faults, even he knew this. And he wasn't going to let it slide without a fight.

"That's. NOT. **TRUE**!" Kanu fought back by yelling at the top of his lungs, almost letting his rage take full control. But Krillin fought back harder.

" _THEN WHAT EVEN IS THE TRUTH, YOU PIECE OF DOG SHIT!?!"_

As hard and as painful as he could bear.**

An intense, guttural shout came from Krillin. All the resentment, anger, frustration, and anguish formed from years of being bottled away and hidden, now revealed themselves to everyone present. As this all happened, a door could be heard slamming shut. But for now, no one paid that any mind.

Even Roshi felt shivers crawl down his spine when he heard his student's shout. The old master didn't even need to be inside to witness the event. He had been spending the last thirty minutes waiting outside, wearing headphones and listening to some radio music. Even as suggestive tunes still came from the speakers, he could feel that something had gone terribly wrong inside his home.

Krillin and Kanu were now standing from their spots on the couch. The father just stood opposite from the martial artist, completely frozen by whatever just blasted his eardrums. The old man easily dwarfed his son in height, yet he was the one who felt more shock and fear than anyone else around him. In all the time he thought it'd take to try and reconnect with his son, it only took the last few minutes for Kanu know where the relationship stood.

He wasn't wanted. No matter what his intentions were back then, he ended up looking like a deadbeat in the end. His son wasn't this curious little kid he protected from some bullies all those years ago. He wasn't the child who listened in awe as he explained the simplest of things.

Kanu let him change into somebody else. His son didn't change into a bad person, far from it. But he was someone who held his grudges and wasn't afraid to show them if he had to.

"...Why? Why didn't you come back?" Krillin kept his head down, hoarse voice barely above a whisper. Kanu let himself drop limply onto the couch, mind still reeling from that awful sound.

"I...I don't even know anymore."

If there had been a reason for the long absence, it was forgotten years ago. This was the absolute truth now. No one wanted to admit it to themselves nor anyone else. Both sides desperately sought after it, yelled for it, and yet avoided it like the plague.

Besides another flop onto the couch, no one moved a muscle or spoke a peep for a solid five minutes. Krillin and Kanu were too wrapped up in absorbing just what happened. One moment, someone was giving a calm explanation and in the next, it was like a super-volcano had erupted. Now all that was left was heavy breathing and stinging eyes.

"I'm...gonna go start the car now," Kanu weakly pointed to a yellow hovercar just outside the window. It was parked right on top of the coastline, digging into the sand just a tad. Krillin didn't turn his head to look. He was either too afraid or too drained to look at his father or even lift his head.

"You go do that," The young man spat out. The father slowly walked towards the green door behind his son and exited the house. The son was left all alone.

As the hovercar's engine began to rev, Krillin could hear something else in the house. It was a subtle noise, barely audible over the engine. But it sounded like it was coming from inside the house. It sounded like...

(Is someone crying?)

At this point, it wouldn't be a surprise for that to happen. But Krillin felt too emotionally drained to even heave his chest, let alone cry. It would be more drowned out if it was from outside. The noise had to be coming from inside Kame house.

As much as he'd like to stay seated, the martial artist got up to investigate the noise. Even as the engine blared throughout the island, Krillin was able to pinpoint where he was hearing the sobbing. He soon found himself standing in front of the bathroom door, just next to the little kitchen behind the couch. The sobbing became more clear as he stood before the wooden door.

(Sounds like it's coming from here.)

Krillin knocked on the door a few times, but the sobbing didn't stop. A few moments later, he knocked a little harder. The same thing still happened. The young man took a moment to look out a window next to the front door. Kanu hadn't left yet, even as the hovercar kicked up sand and dust from just floating. It looked like he was waiting for someone...

(I think I know who's in here now.)

For all the crap he just put him through, Krillin may as well do this for his old man. While no one was looking, the young man rattled the doorknob a little bit. He hoped that the door wasn't locked, as weird as it sounds. Otherwise, he might have to pick it if the person inside still didn't open the door.

(And I don't want to be seen as _that_ kind of weirdo. Even Roshi doesn't do crap like that.)

Fortunately for him, or unfortunately for the other party, the door was left unlocked. Despite his hesitation, Krillin slowly pushed the door open and peered inside. The lights were off, but he could still see who the person inside was.

Little Maka sat on the floor beside the toilet, curled up into a little ball. Her sobs echoed throughout the little tiled room, drowning out most of the other noises outside its walls. If she did notice the bathroom door opening, she certainly wasn't showing it. Maka just hid her face in her knees, trying to disappear from sight as best she could.

Krillin finally saw the results of letting his anger loose. A wave of guilt was coming over him as he saw this once cheerful girl now reduced to a scared pile of tears.

"Maka...? Are you okay?" He gently asked.

"G-Go away, d-d-dummy!" She wasn't in the mood to talk. Despite that, Krillin kept walking up to her. As soon as he was in front of her, he knelt down to his sister's level.

"Kid, your dad's waiting for you outside. It's time for you to go home." Krillin explained, keeping a calm tone with the kid. But Maka just shook her head violently.

"-hic- W-Why should I? You said Daddy's gonna l-leave me anyway, just like he left you! He'll just throw me away if Mom's not around!"

Crap, she listened to his rage-rant. Yeah, she was in the same room at the time, but Krillin didn't think that she was actually paying full attention to his mad-ramblings.

It's funny, (It really isn't,) in the beginning he intended to not get his new little sister involved in what they couldn't control or understand. In the end, he failed spectacularly and this was the result he got.

Now Krillin has to fix this mess and calm the girl down. He wasn't going to let his anger get the better of him again.

"Maka, listen, I-" But his sister kept talking.

"M-Maybe that's what I deserve...Because Mom and I took Daddy away from you."

Did he say that? Well, Krillin did say something about Kanu leaving to start a new family. But he didn't exactly say it was her fau- Oh wait, that is precisely what he said, even if he only mentioned that Peko woman. Krillin gave himself a mental head smack.

(I'm a goddamn idiot...! What was I even thinking, saying this shit in front a kid?!) Let's see if our protagonist can fix this.

"Maka, listen to me. No part of my mess is your fault." Krillin placed his hand onto the girl's shoulder. Something about this scenario felt familiar, but that wasn't important right now.

"But, you're angry with Daddy 'cuz of me, right? Th-Then, you have to be mad at me too," Every word of that sentence was a punch to Krillin's conscience. It made finding the right words more difficult, but the martial artist managed through.

"What? No! Kid, I'm not mad at you. I don't _want_ to get mad at you. None of the crap you heard is your fault at all. Sometimes crazy things just fly out of us when we're angry."

"But what about Daddy? Y-You can’t get angry for no reason. W-Was what you said about him crazy too? Or did he r-really forget about you?"

That was a tough question…  
In his rage-induced mind, the answer would have been a definite yes. But as Krillin’s mind cleared up, that answer became more uncertain. In the end, not even the father himself knew the real answer.

"I...I am angry with your Dad, yes. The choices he made hurt me very badly... and I can't even count how many times I just wanted to give him a good punch to the nose." Krillin tried to make a light-hearted joke out of that, though it may have fallen a bit flat.

But Maka's sobs were beginning to die down anyway. There was still the occasional hiccup, but the girl seemed to be paying attention now, even as she kept her head down. But to really make this message stick, Krillin had to

"But you have to keep this in mind, Maka. Your dad's mistakes are not your mistakes. His actions and those consequences are his alone, so don't blame yourself for something you didn't do. Do you understand?"

The girl nodded and lifted herself from the tiled floor. Krillin copied her and got up as well. Best to get out before anyone noticed where they were.

"I-I understand, Mr. Krillin..."

“You don’t have to be formal, call me whatever you like! Anyway, ready to go, Maka?”

“Um…” She looked like she still had something to say.

“Huh? What’s up?” Krillin tried encouraging her to talk.

“Daddy…Daddy won’t leave and forget about me, right?” Maka still had her concerns about that shout storm earlier. Krillin took a moment to think of what the best response would be. It didn’t take long to conjure something up.

“Maka, what is Dad like for you?” Krillin asked as the two of them walked back into the living room.

“Um, what d’you mean?”

“Well, how does he treat you? Does your dad hang out with you often? You two got any hobbies?”

Maka put her hands behind her as she dropped into her thoughts. This too didn’t take long for her to figure out.

“Well, me and Daddy like to go camping on Mt. Paozu. We go there every Summer to go hiking or fish at the stream. Dad said he’ll teach me how to chop firewood for our trip tomorrow!”

Wait, really? Krillin could barely remember what Kanu was like when he was little, but he never thought the old man was interested in something like camping. As a toddler, he would’ve just assumed his father only liked two things; farming and his family. The martial artist didn’t expect to get too invested in this chat, but hey, he guessed a lot of expectations were broken today anyway. This wasn’t much different.

“That’s pretty cool. Is there anything else you guys do?”

“Hmm…Oh! Daddy teaches me a lot about plants and stuff. He calls it _agh-rih-cull-chur_ , but it sounds really _really_ cool! And, and, sometimes we go buy food and medicine for the stray cats behind our house! They're really cute!”

Maka was finally starting to brighten up again, her eyes filling with enthusiasm. She just kept listing off all these things that she and Kanu have done and didn’t show any sign of stopping. For some reason, seeing a kid get all excited about something always put a smile on Krillin’s face.

“Wow, sounds like you and your dad get along well!”

“Yeah, I guess we do!”

“Well then, I don’t think you have anything to worry about. Your dad doesn’t sound like he’s gonna be leaving anytime soon.”

Suddenly, a deep voice called out.

“Of course I’m not. I wouldn’t be waiting out here for ya if I was.”

Kanu stood before the siblings, inside the front doorway. Krillin was hesitant to look his estranged father in the eye and it seemed he must’ve felt similarly. Both men kept their gaze slightly tilted in another direction, with Kanu looking towards his little girl.

“You okay, princess? You didn’t have any gut issues in there, did you?”

“E-Ew! That’s gross Daddy!” Maka yelled at her father in an over-the-top fashion. Kanu just laughed at his daughter’s childish disgust and came up to tussle her hair again.

“Sorry, sweetie. Just making sure my little girl is fine and healthy. Can’t have you gettin’ sick before our little trip tomorrow now, can we?” Kanu didn’t seem to be so shell-shocked anymore. He was acting like that whole incident earlier hadn’t happened, even though you could clearly see how uncomfortable his son felt right now.

(I just want this whole day to be done and over with! I feel like I’m in the world’s most painful sauna!) Krillin anxiously thought. Luckily, Kanu wasn’t planning to make this exchange too long.

“Now go get yourself in the car. I’ll be in there in just a second.”

“Okay!” Maka ran past her father and went straight to the passenger’s seat of the hovercar. Now it was just Krillin and Kanu standing awkwardly in the living room. Before anything was said, Kanu took a small parcel from his pocket and tossed it squarely onto the coffee table behind his son.

Krillin looked back to see what it was. The parcel was nothing more than a small rectangular box wrapped in generic brown paper, tied together with some wide rubber bands. As he turned around again, Krillin noticed his father was already leaving with one foot already on the sand.

“Hey, wait! W-What the heck was that thing?”

“Check that out when you have the chance, son. It’s got a few things for ya.”

“What kind of things?”

“See for yourself. I gotta go home and prepare for a camping trip.” Kanu took a few more steps outside before pausing at his car door.

“Krillin?” The old man didn’t bother turning around.

“W-What?”

“…Make sure you stay safe. Martial arts is no joke,” That was the last thing Kanu said as he hopped into the hovercar and drove off into the horizon. Krillin watched as the yellow vehicle grew smaller and smaller until it was no longer visible. Roshi walked up to his student and tapped his shoulder with the wooden staff he always held.

“You gonna be okay, sonny? I heard that mighty ruckus earlier…”

“I’ll be fine, Roshi. I think I need a minute to myself.”

“If that’s the case, then use it for that package of yours. I don’t want you forgettin’ about it when dinner is ready.”

Krillin nodded, walking back into the house with his master. He grabbed the brown parcel and walked back up to his room. Once he shut his door behind him, he sat down on the wood floor and began unwrapping whatever his father put together.

Inside that parcel were a few items of interest. There was a white, rectangular box, a variety of newspaper clippings kept together with two paperclips, and a plain locket tied onto a leather string.

The newspaper clippings were what caught Krillin’s eye the most. They were different headlines and pictures relating to the World Martial Arts Tournament. Specifically, they all had something to do with the bald man, whether it was a greyscale picture of him or headlines that mention his name. There were even a few clippings that had little notes written on their empty fringes, with things like “ _I believe in you!”_ or “ _So proud!”_

Kanu was collecting all of these? There were so many minute details here, like scoreboards and match-up posters, it felt almost unreal. You could almost feel the old man’s dedication in each scrap of paper.

(He…really didn’t forget about me…) Krillin felt a twinge of guilt as he was reminded of his tirade once again.

The next item of interest was the locket. It was made of copper and had no real design embedded onto it. It was just an oval small enough to fit in a fist. Opening it up revealed nothing other than an empty picture frame and a slot to put a picture in.

“Weird…” Krillin muttered to himself. If that was all the little thing had to offer, then he might as well go to the final object. The white box was nothing special on the outside, just plain like the locket. The martial artist slid off the lid and was stunned by what it held.

It was a little stack of ten photos, snuggly fit into the cardboard container. Each picture was an old color photo, containing about two or three people each. A man, a young woman, and a little child. Every photo held a different scenario, with things like the woman teaching the child how to walk or the man doing something goofy with some farm equipment.

The man could be recognized from a mile away. It was Kanu! Instead of the older man sporting a sharp suit and graying hair, this version looked almost decades younger with a more rustic look. Krillin could hardly remember the time his dad looked like this. So then, that means the woman and the child…

(That’s definitely me and Mom.) Krillin concluded. His memory of his mother was fuzzier than his father’s, but he could recall a few things. One was that his mom was probably the sweetest, most kind individual you would ever meet. She just had this aura of serenity to her and she rarely ever got loud or angry.

Another thing he remembered was when she fell ill. It was such a sudden thing too. One day, Krillin could remember when she would soothe him back to sleep whenever he had a nightmare or got scared by something else. Then the next day, his mother was coughing up blood and restricted to her bed for hours at a time, until she couldn’t get up anymore. Krillin felt a shiver run up his spine at the memory. It was vague and foggy, but it didn’t make it any less screwed up.

At the end of the stack, there was something else beneath it all. It looked like a generic greeting card you’d find at any old convenience store. Picking it up, Krillin pondered about its contents.

(I’m scared to look, but what else am I gonna do? Throw it away?) Krillin thumbed the card open anyway. It was…It was…

\- - -

_Krillin,_

_I’ve never been any good at being sentimental, so I’ll just say what’s on my mind._

_I’ve been a pretty shitty father to you. I left you at Orin Temple with a promise I thought I could keep. I came to West City with the hopes of getting a good job, a little apartment for the two of us, and becoming a family again._

_It’s been fifteen years since I did any of that. I thought I had a reason for taking this long, but I have no excuse. Instead of coming back for you when I got everything done, I met a beautiful young lady and got busy with her. Even we could have easily fit you into our little troupe, it just never happened. Your mother would’ve had a field day with me if she saw what happened._

_You have every right to be mad at me. You probably see me as some deadbeat who couldn’t be bothered to feed another mouth. There is no excuse for me. I don’t know how I can ever fix what I’ve done besides saying “I’m sorry.” You probably want to punch me in the nose, for all I know._

_There’s just one thing that I want you to know, even if you can’t stand to look at your old man._

_I am so proud of you, Krillin. Seeing you in the newspaper and on the television made me realize that you deserved way more than what I left you with. You never ceased to amaze me with every headline and every broadcast you were in. Don’t beat yourself up whenever you find yourself stuck in a hard place. You’re going to places that I can’t even imagine, so don’t be a such a sourpuss!_

_I love you so much._

_Dad._

\- - -

“Krillin! Dinner’s about ready!” Roshi called out for his student. No answer. The old master sighed as he walked up the flight of stairs. He wasn’t going to strain his throat repeating himself, so he may as well make the message clearer. Once he got to his student’s bedroom, he rapped on the door with his staff.

“Boy! Your dinner’s gonna get cold if you don’t come down here!” Roshi warned from behind the wooden surface. Once again, no answer. Instead, something else was heard from inside the bedroom. Putting his ear against the door, Roshi could hear…crying?

“Krillin! Everything okay?!” Roshi grew concerned as he kept knocking, each whack grow louder and louder until-

“OW!” A shout could be heard as the wooden staff smacked poor Krillin in the head.

“Oops! Sorry ‘bout that. Just making sure you heard me…huh?” Roshi stopped in his tracks and took a good look at his pupil. Krillin’s eyes were red and puffy, and his cheeks were shiny in the hallway light.

“Krillin, are you okay?” Roshi asked with grave concern. Krillin noticed the way his teacher was looking at him and quickly rubbed his eyes with his arm.

“I’ll be down in a second, Roshi…I was just…” Krillin tried to come up with an explanation for his appearance, but nothing came. He couldn’t hide the fact that he had been crying, it was plain as day.

“I don’t know what’s gotten you all weepy, boy. Just know that you’ve always got somebody who’ll lend an ear for you.” Not sure whether he meant himself or Krillin’s friends. Probably both. Krillin just sniffed as he tried to keep himself coherent.

“I…T-Thanks, Roshi.” He never liked crying, especially not in front of other people. It made him feel too vulnerable to attack. Roshi understood this well and knew how to handle these situations.

“It’s no big deal, sonny. Just come on down and eat something, okay? Crying on an empty stomach’s just the worst feeling.” For some reason, this gave Krillin a wheezy laugh. He always found it so weird for his teacher to try relating to him that he couldn’t help but snicker a bit.

“Okay. I’ll let you go first.”

Krillin followed Roshi downstairs and into the living room. He ate his dinner in near silence, occasionally talking with Roshi about some small thing. Afterward, the young man said his goodnights, went back to his room and fell into bed. He was too exhausted to do anything else. He just laid back on his mattress and stared at the ceiling. He only had enough energy to think.

(My life’s a goddamn trainwreck.)

It sure felt like it. Hopefully, the future will be ten times better this day. Maybe Krillin will forget about this whole thing and move on. I mean, it can’t get any worse than this. The martial artist will feel better before he knows it. If he had to choose one thing he was grateful for…

(I guess I’m glad I can remember Mom’s face now.)

After that thought, Krillin fell into a dreamless sleep. Things will get better for him, I’m sure of it.

Right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OKAY! This took way longer than I wanted it to be and I think it shows! This is probably almost as long as my ten-page essay for high school English. This thing drained me. I enjoyed it at the end, but the middle was just blech! I hope you all find it okay, because I ain't touching this chapter for a looong time!
> 
> Now for the naming stuff. It was very simple this time. Maka is derived from Macadamia and Peko is kind of derived from Pecan. No art for those characters this time. I just stopped caring since this website's wrting system hates JPEGs.


	4. Chapter 4: A New Path Has Been Unlocked

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What did Krillin do while he was dead for about 3 months? This fan-canonical story, that's what!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dividing the last chapter into two parts again? Cojiko, you overzealous lady, you!

“This time, I’m making sure you’re _not_ coming back!”

Those were the last words Krillin heard before Frieza flung him into the air. He could still hear Goku and Gohan yelling from below, but he couldn’t understand them. The bald fighter just kept rising higher and higher against his will.

At the same time, a burning sensation was ignited within his chest. Within a few seconds, that burning grew and grew until it was consuming everything inside of him. Krillin couldn’t think anymore. He could barely feel his heartbeat. He couldn’t breathe anymore. His heart and lungs felt like they were vanishing and yet his chest began to expand in the most painful way imaginable.

Krillin felt like he was going to burst any second. Whatever was left of his mind was filled with fear as he felt his skin rip and tear beneath the black armor he wore.

“ _GOKU!!!!!!”_ The scared man cried out for his best friend as loud as he could. Just as he did so, the unbearable pain reached a breaking point.

Krillin’s eyes widened as he felt a surge of energy tear through him, his eardrums rupturing as a deafening explosion absorbed his entire being. After that, the broiling heat seared through his eyes. Then he felt his skin burn away and his limbs tear apart.

In the span of two seconds, Krillin lost all sense of sight, hearing, touch, everything.

There was only complete and utter silence.

\- - -

It took a few seconds for Krillin’s senses to start returning to him. He was sprawled out on some flat surface, eyes still wide with horror. For what felt like an eternity, the human was unable to think, breathe, or even feel anything around him.

Then everything hit him all at once, _hard._

(̱̟͜A͖͓̰I҉̙̺̭͓ͅR̯̰̘͔͢.̶͚̯̮͟͟ ̶̩̭̹̹̠̠͠͞I͎̖̤͔̬͟͠ͅ ̸͚̣͍̮͘N̨̡̗̦͍̤̗̼̹E̶̛̘͙̼̖̭̗̥͙Ȩ҉̴̗D̰̯̗̻͈͈ͅ ̢̛͔̯͍̟̼̹̩̕A̸̵̢͍̖̖̙͙ͅI̡̦͇R̢̪͘͝.̣̦̗͕̮̩͞͝)̗͓̟̫

Immediately, the fighter began to full-on hyperventilate as his hands grasped his torso. Krillin could now feel the armor’s material and whatever he was laying on, but his vision was completely black and his hearing was non-existent. He couldn’t even feel his own gut-wrenching screams as he squirmed around in vain.

Fear put the man’s mind into a stranglehold as he desperately tried to regain control of his body. His heels scraped against the floor as his legs kicked around fruitlessly. Krillin’s arms wrapped themselves around his chest and wouldn’t let go, as if they were trying to keep him from falling apart.

Suddenly, the human felt someone pulling him up by his wrists. The abrupt contact only made things worse.

“AAAAAH!!!” Krillin screamed.

Instincts told him to thrash himself out of this stranger’s hold at once. For a good twenty seconds, the fighter put all of his focus into getting away from the potential enemy. It seemed that the most effective method was screaming and swinging your arms until it hit a target.

“GAAH! WHAT THE HELL?!” A terse voice cried out in pain. Krillin felt his fist punch its source in front of him with a disgusting crunch. The knockback then propelled him into some sort of wall or pillar. As the fighter reeled from the impact, his vision was beginning to return albeit still blurry.

“S-Sir! Please calm down! We’re only trying to help you!” Another voice tried to assuage the manic human to no avail. In a final attempt to escape, Krillin finally got himself to stand up by grabbing onto the surface behind him and quickly pulling himself up. That worked for half a second until he crumpled to the floor again, now gripping his stomach in pain.

“Mr. Krillin, you must be careful! If you move around too quickly, you could get-” A disgusting noise interrupted the meeker voice’s explanation.

Krillin threw up all over the thing he had used to support himself. There wasn’t much of anything inside him to upchuck, so all the fighter could do after the first expulsion was dry-heave continuously.

After a few painful heaves, the human felt something grab onto him again and pull his whole body against itself. All the stamina he had just vanished as soon as he hit the floor and vomited, so there was no way Krillin could fight back again.

“Sir, relax. Take a few _deep_ breaths and exhale. Repeat what I’m doing,” The mysterious being pleaded. Krillin felt something on his back expand and compress in a slow rhythm. Nothing else could be done now, so the fighter’s body began mimicking the being behind it. Aside from coughing and wheezing, Krillin’s breathing copied the rhythm within a couple of minutes.

“That’s it, keep that rhythm going. Sony, could you help Mr. Krillin stand up?” The meek voice asked.

“Sure, Toothpick. It’s not like he just broke my nose in two…” The terse voice named Sony muttered bitterly.

“Oh, you’ll be fine! Right now, we need to get this man to King Yemma for judgment,” ‘Toothpick’ handwaved Sony’s injury as he handed him the weakened Krillin. Sony just shrugged as he wrapped the human’s right arm over him. As everything within him finally calmed down, Krillin could finally understand just who these Tony and Sony guys were.

Basically, they were a scrawny blue man with glasses and a slightly larger red man, who was the one currently helping Krillin stand. Blue had neatly combed black hair with two horns protruding from each side of his head. Red wore a curly mop of brown hair and had one large horn jutting out on top.

The only normal thing about them was their outfit, dressed as if they were just ordinary office workers. White button-up shirt, work-casual pants, ties, the works! The normalcy the weirdos wore only made things even more confusing for the distressed human.

(W-What the actual hell?!) This was the first clear thought Krillin’s had since waking up. Didn’t mean his confusion was cleared away, though.

The blue man did clear his throat, though. That ought to count for something.

“Now Mr. Krillin, are you capable of walking on your own?” The blue man casually asked the poor fighter. He just acted like there was nothing about this situation and Krillin wasn’t going to let that slide without answers. Letting go of the red guy, the Krillin took several steps back before doing anything else.

“Bah, he’s fine Toothpick! Did you see how fast the shrimp ran?” The red man glared at the short fighter as he nursed his broken nose.

Krillin kept himself a good distance away from the multi-colored office workers. His throat was still scratchy and achy, but at the very least he wasn’t going to just waltz along with these weirdo strangers quietly.

“O-Okay, just -cough- wait one damn minute! Just who, -cough-, who the hell are you guys?! What were you doing to me!?” The short man worked through the sore throat as best he could. All the angry questions seemed to do was remind the blue man of something.

“Ah! I suppose introductions are in order! My apologies…  
“My name is Tony, _not_ Toothpick. The red guy you punched over there is named Sony. We’re guide-onis and we work under King Yemma,” Tony, the blue one, explained in an orderly fashion.

“Onis? Tch, what? You’re the idiots kids throw their beans at every year?”

“Yeah, and then we treat them like they’re the Anti-Christ and you get your stupid piece of good luck. Now if you’re done being a smartass, then you’d better start coming with us. We came to take ya over to the boss man for yer judgment, so we got no time to waste, shrimp!”

“Judgment? The hell’re you talking about? Where even are we right now!?” Krillin did a quick survey of his surroundings.

Besides the large abundance of yellow clouds, all the fighter could immediately see was the purple platform he stood on, a similarly colored bridge behind the ‘onis,’ and a gigantic, open-mouthed snake’s head just behind himself. Whatever Krillin expelled earlier was all over the thing’s left fang.

Tony and Sony just looked at the baffled human, with Sony raising an eyebrow.

“Uh, where do ya think, shrimp? Can’t your smart ass tell you’re in Otherworld?” Sony scoffed, folding his arms with a smug look on his face.

“I’ve never even heard of this place, so why do you think I should know about it?” Krillin deadpanned. Tony forcefully jabbed his elbow into a tender part of Sony’s side.

“Gah! The hell’s that for, Tony?!” The red oni suddenly winced in pain again. Tony tugged his red coworker’s ear until the oni’s face was level with his.

“Sony, don’t you remember the briefing?! He never got to come here when he was first killed!” Tony whispered angrily to his coworker. Unfortunately, the blue oni wasn’t able to whisper quietly enough.

(First killed…?) Uh oh.

“Hrm? Oh yeah!” Sony snapped his fingers.  
“Yeah, I got it! He was in that whole demonic Namekian limbo shit first time ‘round, right?”

(What’re they talking about…?)

“Yes, he was in limbo…And watch your language while you’re on the job, you dolt!” Tony reprimanded. Krillin couldn’t take this whispering anymore!

“H-Hold on a second! W-What do you mean by ‘f-first killed?’” Krillin exclaimed with disbelief.

“What? Don’t you remember your neck popping and waking up in a freezer later?” Sony was just _so_ casual about the very personal details of the human’s life. It was like he didn’t care if he was going to give the poor guy an awful flashback.

“How do you even know about that?! Just why do you know so much about me?!”

“M-Mr. Krillin?” Tony nervously piped up.

“What!?” Krillin snapped at the meek oni, making him jump behind his burlier friend.

“U-Um, if you c-calm down for just a minute, I can exp-plain what your situation is. So, please don’t get mad…ᵒʳ ᵏᶦˡˡ ᵘˢ…” Tony pleaded with the livid fighter.

“You’re pulling my leg! What makes you think I can trust what either of you weirdos have-” Sony suddenly came up and grabbed the short man by the edge of his armor’s hole, where Frieza had pierced him not long ago.

“W-What are you-” Krillin was cut off by the red oni.

“Well shrimp, here are your options. Either we walk your butt over to the Check-In Station just a little ways back…  
_“OR_ I can drop you off this platform and you can spend your afterlife fending off eldritch horrors beneath Snake Way. _You’d probably be their first meal in centuries.”_ Sony growled under his breath.

“Ah…Ah…” Krillin didn’t dare try anything funny. This scenario reminded him all too well of some bullies he knew in Orin Temple. Strong dudes with a penchant for threats and games of punchies, the causes for more than a few trips to the nurse.

“Time’s a-wasting, shrimp. _Yes. Or. No._ ” It wasn’t even a question at this point. This was a demand.

“O-Okay! OKAY! I’ll go with you, j-just put me down already!” Krillin finally responded. The burly oni seemed to be satisfied with this and automatically dropped the human on his butt.

“Good,” Sony didn’t even bother trying to put him down gently. He just nonchalantly walked over to the connecting bridge and waited there. It was Tony who had to go over and help the poor man up.

“I’m really sorry about that, sir. Sony used to work down in Hell, so he tends to be a bit rough around the edges. But I know for a fact he won’t do anything too rash…” Tony apologized, holding out his hand for the shaken fighter.

“Yeah, he totally wouldn’t let me fall below into God knows what!” Krillin replied sarcastically. He quickly grabbed the helping hand, got up, and dusted himself off before following the burly oni ahead. Tony quickly followed suit, putting a blue hand on Krillin’s shoulder guard as they walked.

“A-Anyways! Mr. Krillin, how about we have a little walk and talk until we get to the Check-In Station? I can answer any question you may have, which I’m sure will be quite a lot!” The blue oni offered. Krillin considered just keeping his trap shut, but staying quiet wasn’t going to solve any issues with this ‘Otherworld’ business.

“Yeah, you could say I’ve got a few of ‘em…”

\- - -

The human and two onis have been trudging to their destination for at least twenty minutes now, though it felt like hours. As they traveled, Tony took the time to explain any problems the deceased might have whilst Sony walked ahead as the leader.

And the more Krillin learned from his blue companion, the more his eyes widened in astonishment.

“So if I’m hearing you right, Frieza is powerful enough that he can just make people f̵͍̗̈́̓ǘ̵̥͍c̴̜̩̏̀k̵̦̫̉̈́i̵͔͓͌̈́n̷̘̮̅̈g̷̱͍͌̀ _explode_ from the inside? _That’s_ how I died?!”

“Yessir. It wasn’t a very pretty sight…The description alone made me nauseous. Fortunately for you, you were allowed to keep your body when you passed over and now you have a neat halo!” Tony pointed to the light-yellow ring above Krillin’s head.

“You make it sound like it’s supposed to make me feel better. All it does is remind me of how royally screwed I am…” Krillin folded his arms and sighed.

“Aw, cheer up shrimp! At least you weren’t royally _skewered_!” Sony was the only one laughing at his joke. Krillin wasn’t impressed at all and Tony just kind of shied away out of embarrassment.

“I _was_ skewered, asshat. Where do you think this hole came from?” The human pointed at the hole the red oni had grabbed when threatening him. The oni looked surprised (Do you really expect him to read all the little details of a soul’s life?).

“Shit, you serious? I thought you just got punched there real hard and it just sort of, boom, fell out,” Sony waved his hands down and made a -boosh- sound. He wanted to say something else, but Krillin’s cold glare told him otherwise.

“Sheesh, you’re no fun at all.” Sony frowned.

“Let’s just get to this station place and get this over with. How much longer do we have to walk anyway, Tony?”

“Just about ten minutes. You know, I could’ve gotten us there faster, but _someone_ accidentally tipped our car over the edge just before we helped you,” Tony murmured irritably, glaring at his large coworker.

“I said I was sorry!”

“‘Sorry’ isn’t going to save our salaries from decapitation, Sony!”

“We don’t even get paid for this shit!” Sony snapped back.

“Tony?” Krillin called out.

“We get paid in having proper amenities and keeping our tongues! I don’t know about you, but I like being able to speak coherently!”

“ _Tony_!” Krillin called out louder. This seemed to have finally caught the blue oni’s attention.

“H-Huh? What is it, sir?”

“Is that the Check-In Station you were talking about?”

Krillin pointed to a green-roofed temple/palace in the far distance. The area consisted of two buildings, a red fence connected to the front building, four towers that outlined a square, and a connected green path that seemingly came out of the clouds on the fighter’s right.

If you looked carefully, you could see a little stream of white clouds crossing the bridge into the little building at the end.

“You didn’t tell me it was like a palace! I’m impressed!” Krillin spoke in awe.

“Ah! We’re nearly there! Maybe if we run now, we could get there in about five minutes. Chop chop Sony!” Tony ordered, much to the coworker’s chagrin.

“Man, if we’re wanting us to run a ten-minute walk in five, I can guarantee that at least one of us will have a heart attack,” Sony shot back with annoyance.

“Oh quit complaining! You had to wrangle with genocidal sinners and monsters twice our size down in Hell! Surely you can at least run a mile?”

“I didn’t do a lotta running down there, Toothpick! I just took care of whatever was on my step!”

“ _How_??? Literally, every other worker down there runs like crazy! There are even annual track meets and yet you can’t even run a mile?!” Tony groaned in disbelief.

“You better back off before you say something you’ll regret, four-eyes…” Sony growled in the low voice he’d used earlier.

As the onis’ arguing began to heat up, Krillin’s brows furrowed in thought. If they couldn’t just run, then what could get the three of them there at the same speed of a car? Then it hit him.

“Tony.”

The blue oni whipped around to face Krillin again, completely ignoring his irritated coworker and their argument.

“Hey! Don’t just ignore me when I’m talking to you, Toothpick! You’ve got a lot of nerve to just-” Tony placed a hand in front of Sony’s mouth, cutting his rant short.

“Shush! Anyways, do you need something, Mr. Krillin?”

“Since I get to keep my physical body here, that means I’m able to do techniques I learned before I died, right?” The short fighter inquired.

“I suppose so…But what exactly do you mean by ‘techniques?’” The blue oni asked nervously. A mischevious smile grew onto Krillin’s face.

“Just what are you planning, shrimp?” Sony snarled.

Suddenly, the human moved in between the onis and grabbed a hand on each side of him.

“Um, what are you doing, Mr. Krillin?”

“Not gonna lie, you’re making this kinda weird.”

Krillin gave the two a confident grin and tightened his grasp.

“Don’t worry, all you two need to do is hold on to me tight! Get ready, ‘cause this might be a bumpy flight!” The fighter warned before moving himself into a crouching position like he was getting ready to run.

“F-Flight?” Tony gulped.

“I’ve got a bad feeling about-” Before Sony could finish his thought, Krillin suddenly charged forward with all his might. He went into his top speed in very little time, holding onto the guide-onis like they were his lifeline. Ironic, considering he’s the lifeline here.

“WOAHWOAHWOAHWOAHWOAH!!!!! _SLOW DOWN, MR. KRILLIN!!!!!!!_ ”

Being incredibly lightweight, Tony floundered around in the turbulence like a flag in a tornado. His nickname wasn’t _Toothpick_ for nothing! If he wasn’t careful, he could easily slip out of Krillin’s grasp and fall into the chaotic depths of Hell.

Sony’s flying situation was the exact opposite. Despite Krillin being much stronger than the average human, he still had trouble keeping the burly oni in the air for very long. He didn’t intend to drag the oni around like this, but lifting the dude felt like holding up a mountain. So for most of their rapid flight, every part of Sony kept skidding all over the path below. It was worse than tripping on a gym floor.

“STOP!!! _STOOOP!!!!_ MY SKIN’S BURNING HERE!!!!!!” Sony roared in pain

“DON’T WORRY!!! WE’RE ALMOST THERE!!!” Krillin shouted at the top of his lungs. True to his word, the three amigos arrived at the station entrance shortly thereafter. As they got closer, Krillin slowed himself until he could gently land on the ground. As soon as his feet touched the floor, the human let go of the onis he’d dragged along, dropping with a thud.

“Alright! I still got it!” The fighter pumped a fist up in victory. He was afraid that being dead was going to hamper his strength and such, but Krillin was more than pleased that he’s still got the skill!

“What can I say, guys? I might not anywhere close to Goku’s level, but I’ve still got the stuff!” Krillin proudly bragged.

“I know what you can say, shrimp. _How about an apology, for starters_?” Sony growled.

“Eh? Why would-” But Krillin saw what the red oni meant as he turned around. Saying that Tony and Sony looked haggard would be an understatement.

If you would see Tony right now with no context, you’d think he’d just spent an hour inside a wind tunnel. His neatly-combed hair was now blasted back, making his head look like a comet. He’d lost both of his shoes and a sock in the turbulence and somehow his shirt had gotten stretched out during the flight, looking more like an old nightgown than a button-up. His glasses had miraculously stayed on his face, but were now skewed diagonally and missing a lense. Unsurprisingly, Tony was completely dazed and was having trouble keeping balance as he stood.

Sony looked like he’d been in the exact opposite scenario. The skidding had practically destroyed the front of his shirt and it now resembled a short-sleeved jacket without buttons. Thankfully, his pants remained mostly intact, even if they were technically shorts now. In exchange, Sony’s nose looked like it was broken again and whatever skin that was exposed on the oni’s front looked like it had gone through an Indian Burn. Everything was all scuffed, scraped, and painfully raw.

Once he saw the results of his ‘idea,’ Krillin felt embarrassment hit him like a brick. His proud posture shyly slumped back as the red oni shot death from his eyes.

“Uh…oops?” The fighter peeped nervously.

“ _Oops_ ain’t gonna -ow!- cut it, dead meat,” Sony winced with every step he took towards the short human. But before he could get much closer, the dazed Tony wobbled in front of his coworker.

“N-Now Sony, st-st-stay calm…! Let’s j-just get the deceased to K-King Yem-ma and deal w-wi-with things as they ha-happen!” The dizzy oni stuttered out. Sony could’ve easily just pushed Tony out of the way, but moving with floor-burned skin made such a thing impossible to bear. Instead, the pissed oni had to comply with his coworker.

“Fine…Shrimp, walk in front of us.” Sony barked sharply. Krillin raised no objections and promptly began to walk through the entrance into the vast station as the wounded guides tried to follow along.

\- - -

Though the place looked amazing on the outside, Krillin soon discovered that the Check-In Station was a bit more barebones than he’d thought. The main area consisted of only one room with two different exits to the left and right. There weren’t any benches or chairs to rest on, which kind of made sense. The spirits that dotted the place were nothing more than little white clouds, so they didn’t need to sit down…

So why did Krillin still gape his mouth in awe? Well, it was because of the gigantic oni sitting at his desk, currently screaming at Tony and Sony. King Yemma was almost as tall as the room itself and was about as big as a large cabin when sitting down. Just like the littler onis, the King wore normal work clothes that consisted of a plain purple suit, a hat of the same color, and a red tie. Being an oni, he had the standard horns. He also had this wicked beard that was pointed in two different directions.

Yemma was the best example of mixing weird with normal aspects of Earth’s life. Was it supposed to be calming for the dead who come in? Probably. Krillin was more freaked out by the yelling than the appearance, after all.

“How could you let company equipment fall into Hell?! Those don’t come cheap, you know!!” King Yemma angrily roared at the onis before him.

“WE’RE SORRY, KING YEMMA!!!” Tony and Sony apologized and bowed in unison. For Sony’s tough-guy act, even he wasn’t above groveling and begging for forgiveness. Seeing this burly hothead become meek and nervous kind of disturbed Krillin. He didn’t like taking joy in karmic retribution, it just didn’t feel right.

“It’s bad enough that we have a Class-A crisis on our hands! I ought to send you two over to Hell to help round up the fallen spirits! At the very least, you’d be getting Judgement back on schedule! We can’t just hold these souls in here forever now, can we?!”

“WE’RE SORRY, KING YEMMA!!! WE’LL DO WHATEVER IT TAKES TO PAY YOU BACK!!!” The onis cried out in unison once more.

(So even the afterlife has technical difficulties…Who knew?) Krillin thought to himself. This whole afterlife business was nothing like he had learned back in Orin. He thought that when you died, you’d just come back as another person or whatever. In fact, Krillin was sure that this contradicted practically _every_ religion he’d ever learned about on Earth! No Buddha, no Jesus, no major figure thought to exist…well, even existed! It was just some dude doing paperwork who told you where to go.

He wasn’t even a kind guy either! Yemma was no different than an overworked and angry human boss. He was a literal giant grouch!

(Now I just feel bad for the employees. They probably have to deal with this guy for all eternity! At least back on Earth, you could get a little break now and again…)

“You there! Krillin, was it?” Krillin’s train of thought was suddenly interrupted by a booming voice. King Yemma was calling for the short human, impatiently bouncing his leg off the floor. Not wanting to test his patience, Krillin immediately ran up to the gigantic desk before him.

“W-What is it, Mr. Yemma?” The human stammered out.

“That’s _King_ Yemma! Anyways, I must apologize for the delay with your Judgement. There are some issues me and my staff are currently dealing with, so it may take a while to get you situated,” King Yemma spoke calmly and seriously, a far cry from a few seconds ago.

“It’s fine, sir! I can wait for as long as I need to. But…am I allowed to ask you a question?”

“Hmm? You have a question?”

“Yeah…What’s going on exactly? I mean, with this whole process.”

“Oh, it’s quite simple,” King Yemma started…  
“When people die, their souls travel up from that green bridge to here. When they come to me, I thumb through their life stories and determine their afterlife based on what they’ve done, what sins they’ve committed, whether they’ve repented, et cetera et cetera…”

Souls arrive from that bridge back there, huh? That made Krillin wonder…

“If everyone comes from that bridge, then why did I wake up someplace else?” The human asked.

“-sigh- Sometimes we get errors with spirits landing someplace other than the designated area. We try to round up stragglers as best we can, but some slip through the cracks. “And with the current issues I’m trying to fix, it’s become much more difficult for my workers to get any lost spirits back here…” King Yemma griped exhaustedly. Suddenly, the large oni snapped his fingers as though he just got an idea.

“That reminds me! Though we can’t do anything about your Judgement right now, I still need to ask you a few questions about your arrival,” The King explained.

“Uh, what sort of questions exactly?” Krillin asked nervously. If he had to talk about some more _personal_ information with people around him…

“It’s nothing too intrusive, sir. It’s something humans would like to call a ‘survey.’ I just need to know what your experience arriving in Otherworld was and a couple of other things. “So firstly, how would you describe your arrival to Otherworld?”

Oh, is that it? If that’s the case, Krillin figured it wouldn’t hurt to give the oni a few answers.

“Well, let’s just say I didn’t really get off on the right foot. I woke up and it was like a bunch of trucks smashed into me all at once! I may have gotten confused and, uh, punched Sony over there in the nose…Then I kind of threw up on this snake fang and, um, I guess I just went through a very rude awakening? “That’s how I’d describe it anyway, sorry about that…”

“It’s no problem, Mr. Krillin. That just means we need to do some more work around here. Now next up, is there anything missing from your person?” Yemma inquired.

“Er…what do you mean?”

“Are there any missing organs or appendages? Is your outfit exactly how it was before you died? Have any personal effects like necklaces or rings gone missing?”

Krillin had to think about that for a second. He felt like everything inside of him was there and working, so at least his vitals were fine. The fighter’s armor seemed to be the same as before, chest hole and all. He knocked on the chest plate to make sure it was still stable when he felt something off about it. The plate withstood the knock, but it felt like there was something beneath it. Did Krillin always have a weird lump on his chest?

(Wait, I know what that is!) Krillin immediately reached a hand under the chest plate and felt around for a few seconds. Once he felt the odd lump, he pulled it out from the protective prison. It was a small, ovoid copper locket that easily fits inside a fist. The thing was pretty plain and it looked more like an egg on a chain than a locket. As soon as Krillin pulled it out, relief immediately washed over him.

“Oh wow! I completely forgot I had this on me!” He exclaimed with joy. Sony, now holding an ice pack over his chest, looked over at the giddy human with intrigue.

“The hell’s that, shrimp? You like wearin’ cheap jewelry? Hope you didn’t forget yer rings either!” The red oni snickered, but Krillin didn’t look too offended by his comment. He would rather proudly explain the value he held within his trinket than leave someone hanging when they ask about it.

“This, my friend, is something I hold very dear to me. This was the last thing my Dad gave me when we met up a few years ago,” As he spoke, Krillin opened up the copper locket to reveal the picture it held. It was an old color photo of a man, his wife, and their child standing in front of a wooden cabin.

Now that he wasn’t so dazed, Tony walked over to the fighter to take a look.

“Aw, how cute! Is that your family, Mr. Krillin?” The oni asked.

Krillin nodded. “Yeah, it’s one of the only pictures I have of my parents. It’s…It’s really important to me. I don’t know what I’d do if I lost it or if it got destroyed,” A tinge of sadness echoed in those words.

It may seem like junk, but for Krillin, the locket was a priceless keepsake. It reminded him of when he was just a normal kid with a normal family. When he actually had parents who were there for him. It was also one of the only things that told him what his mother looked like, something he could barely do until just a few years ago…

If you didn’t know any better, you could say that the man was downright obsessed with the picture!

Then King Yemma cleared his throat, interrupting the little moment Krillin was having.

“Now, Mr. Krillin. Shall I get someone to fetch a chair for you or will you be fine without one?” The King offered.

“Well, you don’t really have to do that, sir! I’m fine with just sitting down and-”

“KING YEMMA!!! I HAVE URGENT NEWS!!!”

Out of nowhere, a huge, deep blue oni burst into the room. This guy looked almost as strong as Sony and sported a track uniform. It wasn’t much different from any other running outfit, besides the word _Hell_ being pasted on the shirt in a bold red font.

Krillin was knocked down as the new oni stood before King Yemma. It felt like being dropped by Sony all over again, down to the harsh landing. The fighter was about to give the new guy a piece of his mind,

“H-Hey! What the f-” but his voice was drowned out over King Yemma’s booming voice.

“Malony, what’s going on?! I was busy talking with the young man you just knocked over!”

“I-I’m so sorry, sir, b-but this is _really_ important! Heaven…It’s been hit again!!”

“Again!? Then…that means?!”

Malony gulped and nodded. A look of absolute fear was painted onto King Yemma at that moment. Both Tony’s and Sony’s eyes widened in shock as their coworker relayed the information.

“D-Damn it! How could this happen again?!” Sony slammed his fist into the ice pack he held, completely shattering it. Tony just held his head in his hands, on the verge of tears.

“No…! I thought we were finally making progress! This can’t be happening again!!” The blue oni loudly sobbed.

Krillin was beginning to feel his emotions rise up as well. He didn’t understand a thing about what was happening, but something in his gut told him to be afraid. It might be because the afterlife most of these spirits were headed for is becoming a war zone, but he wasn’t sure if that was his reason

However, it sure as hell is the reason why all these white clouds were zipping and zooming around him. It’s hard to forget that King Yemma’s office was also a main lobby of sorts, meaning that anyone present could easily overhear this pretty f̵̱͈̰͐̓̍ṳ̵̜̩̽́̈c̴̣͔̬͂̈́k̷̫̱̤̒̃͠i̷̙̹͎̋̍̀n̷̳͚̳̄͊͘ģ̶͖̫̓̎̚ terrifying news. The other onis present tried to rally up the panicking clouds to little avail. Everyone was either screaming, crying, or both.

“H-Hey!! Wuz that red bastard talkin’ ‘bout?! Wuz goin’ on?!”

“Heaven’s been hit?! What does that mean!? Will we be safe?!”

“Mama, what’s gonna happen?”

“E-Everybody, please remain calm! I can assure you that we’ll have this all sorted out in due time! Please remain in the lobby!” A lanky guide pleaded with little luck. He was promptly trampled over by many scared and confused souls attempting to escape the lobby. Seeing this, King Yemma reached for an intercom he had at the desk and pressed the big red button.

“Attention!!! All workers at the entrance must quickly close the gates!!! Do not, I repeat, _do not_ let any spirits get out of this palace!!! Anyone caught slacking off will have their tongues receive a private meeting with my _hand_!!!” The order echoed throughout the Check-In Station. Shortly thereafter, bunches of onis could be seen rushing about the place this way and that, all to avoid losing their tongues or more.

(If I wasn’t stuck in this mess, I’d probably find this whole thing pretty funny…) Krillin’s thought didn’t make him feel any better. All it did was make his gut feeling intensify as he tried to dodge the incoming clouds. Before he was trampled like the lanky guy, a strong hand quickly pulled him behind Yemma’s desk and against another person.

“W-Woah!”

“Thank me later, shrimp. Be glad you’re not involved in this mess!” Sony muttered in the fighter’s ear.

“…I’ve got this feeling that I _might_ be, though,” Krillin argued.

“Just shut yer trap, I don’t have time to argue. Right now, just wait here until this stampede clears,” The red oni sounded drained as he spoke. Turning around, Krillin could see lines of fatigue that weren’t present before. Sony went from this aggressive ogre with bad jokes to another person entirely.

“Sony, what the hell happened?” The red oni hesitated with an answer. He stared at the floor as though he was reliving a flashback. The longer he stayed silent, the worse Krillin’s anxiety got.

“Ngh…Some asshole in Hell’s been firing these energy bombs at Heaven. We’re losing so many people to the shit that’s down there…” Sony finally mustered an answer.

“I-If we can’t find the lost residents in time, they may…they may cease to exist! We made a checklist to find them and everything, but now…! Oh, God!” Tony broke down in tears again.

“H-Hey, calm down for a minute…” Krillin walked up to the oni and placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Tony, whatever’s happening…I’m sure it can be fixed,” The fighter tried to comfort the blue oni, but that didn’t work. His sobs didn’t relent, they just got louder. Guess the old Hand-On-Shoulder Technique didn’t work on everyone.

“Shrimp, just leave him alone. Once Tony gets started, he doesn’t stop for a few hours. Take a seat somewhere, it’s going to be a while,” Sony grumbled as he leaned up against a wall.

“But I…” But Krillin stopped short. No one looked like they were in the mood to talk anymore. King Yemma looked miserable as he began writing something down in a large notebook. Malony sat next to his weepy coworker, about to copy the poor guide as well.

Krillin sighed. He walked over to one of the giant desk legs and slid onto the floor with his back against the wood. He watched as the cloudy stampede continued down the hall he had entered from. Muffled yelling and swearing could be heard in the distance.

(I hope that whatever just happened gets fixed soon.) Krillin thought wistfully, tightly clutching the locket around his neck. It was strange, but he had this sinking feeling that he’s going to be in danger again.

(Ceasing to exist…What does that mean?) The human didn’t want to know, but he felt like he was going to find out soon enough. Right now, he just wanted to be revived and go back home to Earth. He wanted to be with his friends and with Goku! But as he waited for this to _possibly_ occur, fate happened to be weaving a warm little journey for him.

A journey similar to a horse-pill. Hard to swallow and generally disliked by everyone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know if there's any naming conventions the Ogres/Onis in Dragon Ball have, so I made something up for convenience. Most of the Onis of Otherworld have their names end in -Ony. That's their gimmick.  
> As seen with a certain blue guy, they can also be referred to by nicknames and aren't limited to their formal names.
> 
> Little thought of mine: Malony's nickname would be a variation called Malone and Onis can transfer to different jobs around the afterlife. I also imagined Tony as this one ogre you see in Z every once in a while. I think he was the guy who took Goku to Snake Way.
> 
> Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I want to make the next one a little darker, but it might be a while. Been thinking about putting in a little inspiration from Drakengard...let's see if it works!

**Author's Note:**

> Fun fact about the parents' names!
> 
> Kanu is what popped up after I converted the word 'chestnut' into Hawaiian using Google Translate. I thought it sounded nice, so I just rolled with it.
> 
> Alma is just derived from 'almond.' I tried putting chestnut through Google Translate to find a female name as well, but the only other word that sounded decent was 'Kustina,' but I think Alma just works a bit better than the Arabic translation for chestnut.
> 
> Since the idea for Krillin's and both Mar(r)ons' names are derived from chestnuts, I thought it would be appropriate to try and do the same for the main man's parents. I mean, I don't know if almonds are actually nuts or they're just legumes that we mix with nuts but I thought it wouldn't hurt to add other nutty names in besides chestnuts!
> 
> I had a lot of fun with this story and I expect to get the next chapter out as soon as I can! I hope you'll enjoy what I've got in store for the future!


End file.
